Parsley is lovely to eat, it always looks good and almost everyone has a pot of it growing by their back door. It’s a winner.
Personally, I prefer to use the curly leaf variety rather than Italian parsley. That’s really down to the fact that I like the flavour more, and the flat version is just, well, flat and boring!
When you’re using parsley in your cooking you never want to overdo it – it’s important to keep that vibrant green chlorophyll alive. You’ll lose it if you cook it for too long.
One of my favourite ways to use parsley in the restaurant is in a tasty sauce. We take white wine and reduce it by half then add in garlic, capers, a touch of salt, and some fish stock. Bring it to the boil, adding parsley at the last minute. Bang it in your blender and you’ve got a beautiful parsley sauce that is perfect for serving with fish.
It’s also delicious in a soup – I’ll often whisk one up quickly by sautéing some onions off in a pan, then slicing in potatoes. I’ll add some vegetable stock and cook until the potatoes are cooked through – the potatoes are a thickening agent, so they’ll get it to the right consistency. Thirty seconds before I take it off the heat, I’ll throw in a hearty amount of parsley, season and run through the blender. Then you’re left with a bright green parsley soup.
Simon prefers to use the curly leaf variety of parsley, rather than Italian parsley.
Ken says:
“Parsley can be grown all year round and is easy to grow. The most important thing for keeping parsley happy is drainage. If your soil or mix stays wet for too long, parsley can get ‘crown rot’ (where the stem meets the roots) and will usually die from it. It will perform best in a nutrient-rich soil, so use a good garden mix, or potting mix if growing in a pot. For best results, mix in some compost and a sprinkle of general purpose fertiliser.
If growing from seed, you will need to be patient – they can take a month to germinate. If buying from a garden centre, choose the smaller, fresher looking ones. Plant in a spot that gets roughly six hours of full sun per day.”
Ken Nicoll of Total Garden Care keeps Simon’s garden in order.
