Stracciatella with a sizzling green sauce

A monochromatic green sauce to dress a plate of creamy stracciatella — while doubling as a pasta sauce (yes, go ahead and use this whole dish in a pasta, just add pasta water) or enjoy with focaccia to dip and smear in the glorious savoury green oil.

There’s dill, capers, olives, spring onion, basil, zucchini, shallots and garlic, all fried in olive oil to create a super charged green sauce.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp stracciatella

1 zucchini, sliced into thin rounds

1 shallot, sliced into thin rounds

2 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1/4 cup olive oil - for frying

2 tbsp olive oil, to add to sauce later

4 brown anchovies

200g green olives, pitted and sliced

Handful of dill, chopped

2 tbsp capers

1 tbsp caper brine

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp mushroom umami seasoning (mine is from Trader Joe’s) if you can’t get this, substitute with 1/2 tsp onion powder

Handful of green spring onion tops, sliced thin

Handful of basil leaves, about 8-10

Pinch of flakey salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

Method:

Line a large plate with a couple of paper towels. We will be putting our fried basil leaves, zucchini, shallots and garlic here to absorb extra oil after frying.

In a medium pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat and wait until hot. Fry basil leaves for about 20 seconds on each side or until they are crispy and bright green. Dry on a paper-towel lined plate.

In the same oil, add anchovies and zucchini. Fry zucchini rounds until light golden brown. The anchovies should disintegrate in the oil. Dry on a paper-towel lined plate.

In the same oil again, fry shallots and garlic until light golden brown. Dry again on a paper-towel lined plate.

Now, turn the heat down all the way. Add 2 tbsp olive oil, sliced olives, capers, caper brine, dill, spring onion, seasonings and just gently warm it through. Take off the heat and set aside.

Add stracciatella to a plate and spread around to create a base. Spoon over zucchini, shallots and garlic evenly around the stracciatella and over the edges too. Spoon over the warm olive sauce evenly over the top. Crush fried basil leaves and sprinkle over top. Finish with flakey salt. Enjoy with focaccia.