Neckham's Green Sauce is a traditional medieval recipe for a dish of fish poached in wine and water served with a green herb sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic medieval version of: Neckham's Green Sauce.
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Original Recipe
Green Sauce for Fish from Alexander Neckam (1157–1217), De nominibus utensilium
Pisces exenterati cum salsa coquentur ex aqua et vino composita. Postmodum sumantur cum viridi sapore,
materia cuius sit salgea, petrocillum, costus, ditamnum, serpillum, alea cum pipere
Translation:
The cleaned fish are cooked with a sauce made from water and wine. Afterwards they are served with a green sauce, the ingredients of which are salt, parsley, costus, dittany, wild thyme, chopped and cast with pepper.
Note: The translation of costus is a little in doubt. It could refer to coatmary (also known as alecost) a bittering agent and culinary herb or it could refer to costus, the dried root of Dolomiaea costus. I'm more inclined to the use of costmary (ie Costus of St Mary) but provide both in the recipe below:
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
2 white fish fillets (leave the skin on)
200ml water
100ml dry white wine
For the Green Sauce:
4 tbsp flat-leaf parsley leaves, very finely chopped
2 tbsp dittany of Crete
1 tsp ground costus root (or 2 tbsp costmary leaves, very finely chopped)
2 tsp wild thyme leaves, very finely copped
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Combine the water and wine in a pan that's large enough to just hold the fish fillets and which has a lid.
Bring the mixture to a simmer, gently layer in the fish and poach for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is just tender.
In the meantime, very finely chop the herbs and add to a mortar. Add a generous pinch of salt and pound the mixture to a paste, adding a little of the fish poaching liquid to make a sauce. Season liberally with freshly-ground black pepper.
Once cooked, transfer the fish to a warmed serving plate and garnish with the green sauce.
