Time: 45 Minutes

Serves: 6 (keeps very well in the fridge for cold leftovers)

Ingredients:

12-18 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes

32 oz. Sour Cream

16 oz. Heavy Cream

1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. White Pepper

2 tsp. Black Pepper

1 Bunch Watercress

2 Bunches Spinach

1 Bunch Parsley

3 Stalks Tarragon

1 Bunch Fresh Chives

2 Lemons

5 Eggs

5 Gherkin (optional)

 

It’s summer here in Durham, NC and it is hot! Currently it is 80 degrees Fahrenheit before 7 AM, over 100 by noon and violent, daily thunderstorms around 4 PM. In this weather, it is basically impossible to eat hot food for dinner. As a result, my husband and I grow entirely sick of salads, gazpachos and sandwiches. On this particularly stormy night, I am reminded of one of my favorite summer dishes from Frankfurt. “Grüne Soβe” or “Green Sauce” is native to my husband’s home town of Frankfurt. It is a simple summer dish, comprised of a variety of chopped herbs mixed with a cold yogurt sauce, served on a bed of boiled potatoes. The herbs that comprise the dish are native to the German state of Hessen in the South, where Frankfurt is located. Farmer’s markets still sell Green Sauce packets at local stalls in the city. I’ve spent many Saturday mornings selecting the perfect packet with my mother-in-law and enjoying a lovely dish of green sauce with a glass of the Rein land’s infamous Riesling, on a hot, German summer evening.

Now that my husband is out of school, our summer trips to Germany are less frequent than other times of the year; hence he tends to miss Grüne Soβe season. During one night of particularly acute homesickness, I set about attempting to recreate the dish in North Carolina. This was no easy feat! The herbs needed for real, authentic Green Sauce are almost solely found in Hessen. The dish also uses a German yogurt called “Quark” which is not available in the U.S. and even the potatoes are a slightly different shape and size. Needless to say, it took a couple of failed attempts to get something passible. Regardless, after several tries, I finally recreated a faux version of Grüne Soβe which my husband claims would make any native-born Frankfurter proud. This dish is relatively cheap, easy to throw together and won’t leave you feeling overly full on a hot summer night. So grab a bottle of Riesling and some summer strawberries for dessert, and settle in with one of Frankfurt’s classic delicacies.

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and boil them whole in a pot of salted water. Set aside. Hard boil the eggs, peel, and chop into rough dices.

Using a food processor, wash and chop the watercress, spinach, tarragon, parsley and chives. Mix together. Mix in the juice of two lemons. In a separate bowl, mix together the sour cream, heavy cream and mustard. Add the yogurt mix to the herb mix. Add salt and both peppers. Taste. You may need to add more salt and pepper depending on how seasoned you like it. Add the diced eggs. The sauce should be thick and a pale green color, with obvious rough pieces of herbs and egg in it. Some Frankfurters like to add Gherkin to the sauce to give it an extra sour taste so I have included them as optional above.

Place 2-3 potatoes on a plate and ladle a thick ladleful of the sauce on top. Do not think of this as an American would think of sauce! This is not meant to dress the potatoes. This is the full meal. It is meant to be more like a thick potato soup. Dice up the potatoes so the sauce and potatoes meld together. This dish is excellent when served directly after preparation but is also quite tasty when it chills overnight in the fridge.

Guten Appetit!