Jamaican Green Sauce (Seasoning)

I first made this sauce (or seasoning as it’s frequently called) as a marinade to the Oxtail Stew that I was making for the first time. You’ll see it reference in that recipe. However, having said that, this blend is something that I intend to keep on hand and use in a variety of capacities. It’s closest analogy is a chimichurri sauce from Argentina or Uruguay, and once you see what goes into it and can smell it on your own counter top, I have no doubt that you’ll find multiple uses for it.  It’s simple, tasty, and should keep for a while in the fridge because of the citric acid that goes into it.

P.S. It kicked ass on the ox tail as a marinade….

Recommended Tools:

• Cutting board
• French chef knife
• Peeler
• Handheld immersion blender with food processor attachment
• Large food processor
• 16 oz storage container or Mason jar

Ingredients:

• juice of 1 small lemon
• juice of 1 small lime
• 1 small onion
• 1 head garlic
• 1 full bunch de-stemmed cilantro
• ½ bunch de-parsley
• 1 full bunch green onions
• 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger

Directions:

NOTE: Be sure that your food processor will be big enough to hold all the leafy bits when everything first goes in.

1. Cut the lemon and lime in half
2. Juice the lemon and lime halves completely, removing seeds where possible
3. Pour juice into your large food processor
4. Chop the small onion into half-inch pieces
5. Put the onion into your large food processor
6. De-stem the cilantro, although you don’t need to cut off each leaf so much as cut the end portion of each cilantro stalk off from the lower, thicker portion
7. Put the cilantro into your large food processor
8. De-stem the parsley, and in this case, yes, I recommend removing the stem as completely as possible
9. Put the parsley into your large food processor
10. Cut the top off the garlic head (this is the hard bit that you can’t eat)
11. Separate each clove and squash with a ramekin
12. Remove the entire husk from each clove
13. Put the cloves into your large food processor
14. Peel (or cut) the hard, outer husk of the ginger, leaving only the juicy fibrous inside
15. Chop the ginger root into half-inch pieces
16. Put the ginger into your large food processor
17. Clean each green onion (wash and chop off roots)
18. Chop each whole green onion, from white to green into half-inch segments
19. Put the green onion into your large food processor
20. Mix on high in your food processor until the mix becomes a rich, green purée
21. Store the complete blend in a sealable container and use generously in any application that needs a tart, citrus-and-cilantro-based sauce (think Tabasco or Cholula Green sauce as a close approximation)

Applications:

• Marinade for tofu, pork, beef, chicken or fish
• Chip dip
• Spice up eggs (scrambled or otherwise)
• As a topper for Mexican, Tex-Mex, or Southwestern food
• Tacos!
• Or you could try something new… half of what I know about cooking I learned from experimentation.