In Italy, this recipe is called – Tongue with Green Sauce. The dish is very delicious and very simple to prepare. The sauce requires some skill, but after trying to make it 2-3 times, you will be able to adjust the proportions of the sauce exactly to your own taste.
Boiled tongue with parsley sauce is a fantastic Italian recipe from the legendary Piedmont region, where the cuisine is especially delicious! “Green sauce” is a sauce made from parsley, marinated salted anchovies, and vinegar-soaked bread.
Tongue with Green Italian Sauce
Ingredients
Meat
- 1 kg beef tongue
- 1,5 ltr water
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- bay leaf
- black peppercorns
- parsley
- thyme
Green Italian Sauce
- 2 egg yolks boiled
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley or dried parsley
- 3 anchovies in olive oil
- 2 slices white bread
- 50 ml red wine vinega
- 80 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
Boiling the tongue
- First, prepare the vegetable broth to boil the tongue in. Place the onion, carrot, and celery in a pot. The vegetables should be peeled but not cut, or cut into large pieces. Add spices, pour in water (photo 1). Then pour in the white wine (photo 2). Bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Add the beef tongue to the boiling broth (photo 3).
- Boil the tongue for about 30 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of the tongue. As you can see in the photo, mine are small, so 30 minutes is more than enough. Remove the cooked tongue from the pot (photo 4), do not discard the broth! Let the tongue cool slightly and peel it while still warm (photo 5). Slice it thinly and return it to the broth. Or return it whole and slice it later. Keep the tongue in the warm broth while preparing the green sauce.
Italian Green Sauce
- Take the white bread without the crust – use only the soft part, soak it in red wine vinegar (photo 6), and let it absorb and soften for 10 minutes. Take the anchovies out of the jar (photo 7), rinse them under cold running water, pat dry with a paper towel, and chop finely. Grate the garlic. Remove the yolks from the boiled eggs (photo 8). Put these ingredients in a blender (photo 9). Also, add the vinegar-soaked bread, but squeeze it well first. Add parsley, fresh or dried. Pour in the olive oil (by eye). Blend the green sauce until smooth. Taste it, you may need to add salt. Do not salt the sauce right away, as anchovies are very salty and might be enough. Adjust the vinegar, you can add another spoonful, and adjust the olive oil (photo 10).
- Reheat the tongue in the broth. Then remove the tongue from the broth (if it hasn’t been sliced yet, quickly slice it now), arrange it on a plate (photo 11), and serve with the green sauce. The tongue should be served warm or hot.
