Oh, parsley… A humble, hard-working, oft-overlooked member of the herb family.
When you think of herbs, parsley may be one of the first that comes to mind. Perhaps because it is widely available, it seems like it is often thought of as common or unimportant. This shouldn’t be the case! Parsley is incredibly versatile, and, dare I say it, a flavorful member of the herb family. It enhances without overpowering, which is a risk you take when cooking with stronger flavored herbs such as basil or dill. Parsley can go in just about anything from soup to salad to skillet dishes. Parsley is one of the few herbs that I am willing to pay for in the winter at the grocery store. I buy a bunch of it every week and use it pretty much every time I cook. I used to just toss it in the fridge in the bag I bought it in, but lately I have been taking the time to put it in a glass of water (just like a bouquet of flowers) and keeping it on the counter or in the fridge if it will be a while before I’m using it.
The trick is in selecting the kind of parsley that you plant and eat. Curly parsley is prettier, but lacks in flavor. It is great for things like garnishing your plates. (You are garnishing your dinners after you prepare them right? I am sure you have not neglected this little bit of Martha Stewart as you go about your household chores of chasing kids, doing laundry, and tending to your loving husband.)
I grow both varieties, of course, because I cannot say no to an herb plant. Here is what my young curly leaf parsley looks like:
When it grows up, it will be nice in bouquets since I don’t use it in cooking. Instead, I cook with flat leaf parsley, which is sometimes also called Italian parsley:
I put it on everything, and I do mean everything. To use, I simply cut a bunch close to the stem. I bring it inside and rinse it only if it looks particularly dirty. (Does this bother you? I’m sorry. Always wash things from the store because they are probably covered in chemicals and preservatives and mind-altering brain-washing top-secret government gobbledygook. At home, I only bother with washing if I can actually see large amounts of dirt or insects. You will never eat dinner at my house again, will you?)
I trim off most of the stems and then chop chop chop. Generally, fresh herbs are added towards the end of cooking to preserve their flavor.
Here is a quick way to try fresh parsley this week. I toss it in aluminum foil with some diced shallots (substitute green or red onions if you’d like), butter and an ear of corn that has been shucked. Wrap it all up and throw in the oven at 400 degrees for thirty or so minutes, rotating the corn halfway through. (You can also prepare them on the grill this way.) The kids may not eat the corn because of the presence of a green object, so be forewarned.
Parsley is a biennial which means it grows for two years. It is also high in vitamin K, and contains vitamin A and C as well. So… try some today! (This blog post was not paid for by the Parsley Farmer’s Association of America or anything like that. I’m just a lover of parsley, not a paid advertiser!)
This week, I also made fresh pesto, but used half parsley because I was low on basil. It still turned out great, so don’t underestimate the power of parsley.
I am going to try my hand at growing some indoors this winter… so I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes.