Green sauce

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 pack of herbs for green sauce, fresh or frozen
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled
• 1 tbsp mustard, hot
• Salt
• pepper, black
• oil
• 300 ml sour cream
• 300 ml yogurt

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

my version of the classic

Wash the herbs, remove the stems (freeze parsley stalks – you can use them for beef broth), and chop them finely. Peel the eggs, separate the egg whites and yolks. Pour a little oil into a bowl and add the egg yolks. Mash the egg yolks with a spoon or fork and mix until smooth. Add the sour cream and yogurt. Mix, season with salt, pepper, and the hot mustard. Add the chopped herbs and stir in. Season to taste and adjust the seasoning if desired. Tip: I like to add a dash of lemon juice. If you prefer a more substantial dish, you can add a little more oil. Notes: Green sauce is a traditional Frankfurt recipe. There are countless variations. Discussions about the composition of green sauce tend to be questions of faith. Frau Aja, Goethe’s mother, is considered an authority on this matter. The canon of seven herbs that belong in green sauce is established: parsley, chives, borage, sorrel, cress, chervil, and tarragon. Here in the Frankfurt area, we get a ready-made package for two servings from the garden centers (preferably in Frankfurt-Oberrad). If you want to prepare the herbs yourself, you usually have trouble getting the right proportions. But even in the packages from our garden centers, the ingredients vary seasonally. The main work is processing the herbs. The character and flavor of the green sauce depend primarily on the dairy products you use. I prefer the light ones. My mother added mayonnaise to the green sauce (it still makes me shudder). Cream (traditional and classic), crème fraîche, but also quark (very light – maybe thinned with a little milk) are often used. This, as I said, is a matter of faith. Another question is whether you chop the herbs with a knife or finely weigh them with a chopping knife, or whether you grind them in a blender (this is how it’s prepared commercially these days—but I find it too mushy or too soupy). The classic dish is boiled beef (preferably Tafelspitz) with green sauce and boiled potatoes. Or boiled tongue and cold roast. Or, as in Frankfurt’s apple wine bars, simply green sauce with boiled potatoes (we always had this on Good Friday—you can also use fried potatoes), or green sauce with four half eggs. The contrast between warm meat and potatoes and the cold green sauce is also nice with this dish. Attention singles: green sauce can also be frozen. So prepare the appropriate amounts of beef and green sauce and freeze them separately. I know that my green sauce seems very sour when you taste it (due to the sour cream and yogurt). I assure you, you only notice this when you taste it. When you eat it with potatoes and meat, the acidity is no longer present. But it makes the dish seem light and fresh (unlike sticky mayonnaise!).