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Gremolata - to reduce into grains

6 days ago
3 min read

"you can't have a fancy food blog without a recipe that has something topped with gremolata."   Culinary Lore


Or reduce into a few words, and even fewer recipes. It's curious is it not, how some foodstuffs, which are so vital to a particular cuisine, have so little to say about them?


Gremolata is fundamental to Italian cooking - particularly in Milan from where it seems to have originated. Well nobody knows really. Suffice to say that one writer - Danny Palumbo on The Takeout website speaking of gremolata's main ingredient says:


"Whenever we think of Italian cooking we often think of tomatoes, basil, or garlic, but I submit parsley to be the face of their national food flag."


And it appears in many glossaries of Italian cookbooks such is its ubiquity.


There is no official understanding of when or where gremolata originated. And isn't it interesting - to me anyway - that no other country in the same geographical area has an identical mix? Similar but usually with additions of some kind or another, or with different proportions - more lemon, less parsley, oranges instead of lemons - and so on. If it is as delicious as most Italian cooks say, then why isn't it common in other cuisines? Why, oh why are things like this still so specific to a particular cuisine?


Globalisation has, of course, made us all familiar with these little touches that identify a cuisine - vinaigrette and mayonnaise; Worcestershire sauce and malt vinegar; soy sauce and five spice powder; garam masala and fresh mint chutney; sauerkraut and bratwurst ... And then we take those things and adapt them to our own tastes, for as The Takeout man says:


"gremolata isn't some predetermined three-ingredient recipe. It begs to be tinkered with."


And obviously people have - particularly the likes of Ottolenghi and Nigel Slater: Glazed pumpkin with tahini and pecan gremolata - Yotam Ottolenghi; Courgettes with bacon gremolata - Nigel Slater; and their admirers - Ottolenghi-style oxtail casserole with gremolata/Eat Drink Love; White bean, fennel & leek cassoulet with a date, parsley & pistachio gremolata - Miss Minifer/Instagram - dates!



Some of those are way beyond the original intent, but more modest, and also more obvious additions are also relatively common - anchovies - because:


"Anchovy adds an unctuous quality that I think takes it to the next level." Danny Palumbo/The Takeout


or olive oil to make it more liqued - a drizzle rather than a sprinkle.


Then there are versions that either add or substitute other herbs - with mint and tarragon being the most common; and - another common addition - toasted breadcrumbs. This one is so common that I confess I initially thought that breadcrumbs were a traditional part of gremolata.


And it can be used in all sorts of ways other than the traditional osso bucco as the three recipes above demonstrate. Tom Hunt used his on a braised fish head!


"fatty cuts of fish or meat, or fried vegetables, will all benefit from the intoxicatingly clean-tasting parsley, citrus and garlic hit. Mind you, it’s also the sort of condiment you can put on just about anything to up the ante and make something taste wondrous." Tom Hunt/The Guardian


But the purists are out there as well: Spaghetti with prawns, courgettes and gremolata - Rachel Roddy; Milanese and gremolata panini - Giorgio Locatelli; Risotto Milanese con osso bucco - Giorgio Locatelli



So if you think you need a little something to make your latest creation sing, just chop up some parsley with a clove of garlic, add a scraping of lemon zest and suddenly you have something wonderful.


However, it's not really something you can make and store for a long time:


"If you don't use it within a day, the topping will start to go bad because of the wilting of the parsley." Chef Bolek


But that's alright, because I'm willing to bet you more or less always have those three ingredients to hand, and it only takes a minute or so to prepare. Give it a go.


YEARS GONE BY

September 6

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Nothing

2018 - Sancerre


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