Recipe - Salsa All Agresto

Stephen Ceideburg
One half cup Bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Chopped parsley
One half teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
2 Garlic cloves, peeled
One half cup Unsalted hazel nuts or
almonds
1 cup Juice from unripened grapes
(about 1 large bunch)
One fourth cup Chicken broth (optional)

Chef Marco Fiorini's family roots are in the Valtellina, one of the rugged,
narrow Alpine valleys northeast of Milan. Fiorini remembers the old people
there making this sauce, which dates back at least to the Middle Ages. The
juice of unripened grapes is used in place of vinegar, which gives the
sauce a hauntingly tart taste. Where to find unripened grapes? In a
neighbor or friends backyard arbor, or ask a farmer's market grape vendor
to bring you some notyetripe grapes.

Put bread crumbs, sugar, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and nuts into a
blender or food processor and puree, as if making pesto sauce.

Slowly add the grape juice. At this point the mixture may be heated in the
chicken broth and served as a warm sauce. Be care ful not to let the sauce
boil, or it will separate.

Makes 1 One half cups.

Uses: Serve warm as a sauce for fish, veal or chicken. Or omit the chicken
broth and serve at room temperature or on crackers or bread, or as a dip
for raw vegetables.

PER TABLESPOON: 25 calories, 0 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat (0 g
saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 48 mg sodium, 0 g fiber.

From an article by Georgeanne Brennan in The San Francisco Chronicle,
9/4/91.

Posted by Stephen Ceideburg

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini