Cornbread with Parsley and Cheese

Parsley

For March 17, 2011

Exotic and unusual herbs may be in vogue these days with chefs and food writers, but good cooks of all kinds, well-known or not, professional or otherwise, know the value of familiar, plain old parsley.

What would we do without it?

Parsley is common. The opposite of trendy. But it’s also among the most useful, refreshing and loveliest looking of herbs. Albert Stockli, once a renowned chef who headed the kitchen of New York’s Four Seasons Restaurant once called it “the jewel of herbs, both in the pot and on the plate.” French cooks even invented the verb persiller, in the herb’s honor; it means “to sprinkle with parsley.”

We’re used to seeing parsley sprinkled – into salads, on top of a grilled chop or fish filet or over cooked rice. And everyone knows that parsley comes in handy as a quick garnish – put a sprig here and there on a plate and whatever you’re serving looks better immediately and with little effort.

But while parsley usually plays well as a decorative item or in a supporting culinary role, it can also star on its own. Did you know that parsley sprigs become delicately crispy when deep-fried and sprinkled with sea salt? Try that as a side dish or for hors d’oeuvre next time you have company.

It also makes a good base for condiments and marinades. Argentinean Chimichurri for example, a sauce that has become so popular you can buy it now in jars rather than make it from scratch. But don’t, because packaged parsley, jarred, canned, dried or otherwise, doesn’t capture the spring-like, grassy flavor of the fresh kind. Better yet, try your hand at homemade Pebre Sauce, a Chilean specialty similar to Chimichurri, but typically containing more cilantro. Pebre is a good marinade for grilled meats and kebabs, especially beef, but is also suitable as a dipping sauce for hanger steak, flank steak and grilled vegetables.

If you’re in a hurry and have no time to make Pebre, mix some chopped fresh parsley with mashed garlic and lemon peel to use as a rub for beef, chicken or pork. Or make a quick dipping sauce for grilled chicken or even cold leftover meats and vegetables by mixing chopped fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt. If there’s time to add grated cheese and pignoli nuts to that mixture, you’ve made Parsley Pesto, which is perfect for pasta or as a dip for crudites.

It’s easy to see what a difference parsley can make if you put some into plain, simple everyday dishes: omelets, frittatas, potato salad, steamed rice, sliced tomatoes, corn bread or vinaigrette dressing. Or make Tabbouleh. Parsley is not a bit player in this bulgur wheat salad, it defines the dish so critically that you would notice its absence if you left the herb out.

There are two kinds of parsley available in supermarkets and greengrocers. Curly parsley, the more familiar, has tightly twisted dark-green leaves; it’s the variety we use most often to pretty up a plate. It has a fresh, crisp taste that you can appreciate best if you add it to soups, sauce or salad at the end of cooking, and yet it also manages to measure up with other herbs when you include it in the bouquet garni for long-simmering stews and stock.

Italian parsley has flat, medium-green leaves; it’s more fragile and doesn’t keep as long as the curly variety. Italian parsley also has a more assertive flavor.

Be sure to wash parsley carefully, because it’s likely that tiny bits of earth still cling to the leaves. But dry the leaves carefully before refrigerator storage, to keep them from deteriorating. To keep parsley freshest, pack it like a bunch of flowers into a water-filled jar. Or wash the leaves and dry them, then wrap them in paper towels and keep the package in the crisper drawer of your fridge.