Cooking At Home: What is gremolata
Gremolata originally comes from Italy where its been used as an accompaniment to a variety of dishes such as fish, pork, anything grilled, roasted vegetables, most anything really. It's flavor is punchy, lemony, salty, tangy, and when using my recipe a little bit spicy. It's simple to make, and when you add it to your food will make you feel super fancy. Tonight, I will elevate the beef stew I made last night to fancy-pants levels, not that the stew needs it (I promise you the beef stew is quite delicious all on its own) — but honestly, why not add some citrusy gremolata with punchy garlic to cut through the rich hearty flavor of beef stew.
And, you know what? When all the cooking was done... it was WORTH it my friend! So good. It was citrusy, garlicky, slightly salty, and it brightened up that warm hearty stew flavor. It was perfect. So perfect in fact I kept spooning more and more into my bowl — I wanted that punchy gremolata flavor in every bite.
Keep in mind that when you're making this the flavor may seem odd, it's not here nor there, it's quite unusual. But, something definitely magical happens when you have it with other flavors. It's almost as if other flavors bring out the best in gremolata. It doesn't take much and it's very easy to make, if you happen to have the ingredients laying about just go for it.
You'll need...
Zest of 1.5 lemons
A few drops of fresh lemon juice
3/4 Cup of finely chopped parsley
1/8 -1/4 Teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 Garlic clove pressed, or finely minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional), or, finally chopped red pepper (seeded) also optional
What you do....
Add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix.
Taste it.
Adjust it to your taste. For more acidity add a few more drops of lemon juice. Add more salt for saltiness, or if you want more heat you'll need more red chili or red pepper flakes (whichever you're using).
An important sidenote I'm sure you've heard before, start small. It's easy to keep adding your ingredients to get it to the flavor you want, but impossible (or nearly) to make it right if you've added too much.