On the merits of green sauce. Enjoying Simmer Down? Do me a favor and forward it to two friends and tell them they can subscriber at heysimmerdown.com.

Sundays I optimistically load up on greens and herbs at the Atwater Village farmers market. But if I haven’t used them in a few days, they become green sauce, which you can make out of basically anything green and leafy.

Here’s what you do: whatever assortment of leafy greens and herbs is left get roughly chopped and packed into a blender jar or food processor along with a big pinch of salt and a few smashed cloves of garlic and, should you have them, some nuts: walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios. Lightly toasting the nuts helps, but skip it if you don’t have the time or energy (though I think it’s mandatory for the pine nuts). Drizzle in an inch or so of a neutral oil (and not olive oil, at this phase, because I find it gets bitter if it’s processed for more than a minute). Blitz it, scraping the sides down as you go and adding oil or a tablespoon of water if it gets gummed up. Once it’s a consistency that looks right, stir in some olive oil by hand. Just before serving add some parmesan or pecorino or even feta and maybe some lemon juice and you have a green sauce.

(OK, real quick—I’m avoiding calling this a pesto because I don’t want the nation of Italy coming for me. I know that real pesto is made in a mortar and pestle by hand, slowly and with care, not quickly whizzed out of a blender. But: green sauce is basically pesto.)

This technique works for so many things: basil of course, but also mint, parsley, dill, chives, cilantro, watercress, baby spinach, and any combination thereof. Not woody herbs like rosemary, but those also last longer in the fridge. I haven’t tried sturdier greens like chard, but I bet that would work too.

Green sauce keeps at least a week in the fridge, plus you can freeze it. But once you have it it’s so versatile:

But the superlative use of any green sauce is to vigorously mix it 50/50 with good tahini for a green tahini spread or dip that goes with anything savory. Try that. I’m literally going to make some tonight.

A classic from @furby_hancock on X.

Grilled broccolini with lemon and pecorino; granola spiced with ras-el-hanout; more sourdough sesame sandwich bread; banana oat milk ice cream; cherry tomato and feta pizza; a simple kohlrabi soup served drizzled with green pistou (told you!); penne with potatoes, peas, and pesto (told you!); lemon bars for a potluck; peanut butter noodles (ban mian—basically this with coconut oil subbed in for lard); and a smoked meatloaf. This is a lot of heavy stuff. We also ate plenty of salad, but I don’t have anything to say about salad today! You don’t make subscribers with salad.

(Quick note: I didn’t really follow recipes for most of these, but a few people mentioned that they liked the links in last week’s issue and so I’m adding links to recipes that are broadly similar to what I did, when I can find something that looks right. BUT TO BE CLEAR I didn’t follow these specific recipes and so, while these all look pretty good, I can’t actually vouch for them.)

A kitchen song is a song I like to listen to in my kitchen.

“Disco’s Main Squeeze” by Cornershop and Pinky Ann Rihal. Listen to it while you’re whipping cream.

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Simmer Down is a weekly newsletter about cooking real food at home for people who want to do that but think they’re too busy to, written by me, Yossi Langer, a busy person with kids in Los Angeles.