In her book In My Kitchen, Deborah Madison shares some of her best secrets for brightening up ordinary vegetables, like this lively herb-y take on a salsa verde.

I adore marjoram in summer sauces like this one. Basil is good, of course, but marjoram is less expected and every bit as summery. In my classes, students commonly become enthusiastic converts to this herb. Even if you live where your marjoram succumbs to the first hard frost, you can buy a few plants in late spring, tuck them in a sunny spot, and use the herb all summer. When they finally freeze, you’ll be ready to move on to rosemary, sage, and winter savory.

This sauce is so thick that it’s almost a paste. You can loosen it by adding more oil, or water if you like, but know that you can spread it as a paste on hard-cooked eggs or grilled fish. It’s phenomenally good with vegetables of all kinds—grilled leeks, sliced tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, steamed fennel, or these beets. You can also toss it with pasta and stir it into rice, or add it to summery vegetable soups and ragouts. This sauce is not difficult to make in an ample mortar with a heavy pestle, but you can also use a food processor if you prefer. I have made this without the bread for a student with celiac disease; I added more nuts for bulk, and it was fine.