A bunch of parsley

"I can't think of any other food so often placed upon a plate with so little concern as to whether it actually gets eaten."

Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall

My Saturday lunch friend brought with her a beautiful big bunch of parsley - shown above - fresh from her bountiful garden. Such a delight to me is parsley. I try and grow it in my garden, with a degree of success as long as I protect the plants from the rabbits - because they adore it too - and if any of the sprigs poke through my cages, they eat the bits that poke out. So it's pretty impossible really. Fortunately it is readily bought, and I always, always have some in my fridge, where it does not stay for long. We're having quiche for dinner tonight and I suspect it will include a fair amount of parsley. Indeed Jane Grigson has a recipe for a parsley quiche, though strictly speaking it's a fines herbes quiche. I think I'll combine it with celery though - and maybe mushrooms too. Plus a bit of garlic and mustard.

For these are all things that go with parsley - well parsley is one of those things that goes with just about everything. Which is why we ignore it. It's just there.

"It's rarely going to overpower or ruin a dish, but has the capacity to enhance and define a huge number of other ingredients." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

For me it's got to be flat-leaf parsley though. I don't like the curly version, even though that's what I grew up with - because I don't like the texture - it always seems a bit gritty and almost spiky to me. The River Cottage people seem to think it's really good quick fried in butter though as a garnish for fish. I am guessing that flat-leaf parsley came in with the influence of cooks and chefs promoting European and Middle-Eastern foods. And interestingly I found that in England in 2016 parsley was increasing in popularity but was still third most popular herb after coriander and basis. Now I had never heard of either of those two when I was a child. I suspect it might be the same here. Certainly when you go to the market you can always buy big bunches of coriander and parsley - basil is a bit more seasonal though unless you buy the stuff that is grown in the greenhouses. It's good but it sure goes off even quicker than the outside grown basil.

I have a rather old book (1959) called The Penguin Book of Herbs and Spices by Rosemary Hemphill - a venerable name in the herb world. But it is interesting to read her small section on parsley to see how limited it is in today's terms. And she also recommends drying it - giving quite lengthy instructions and listing various things to do with it (sprinkle on soup, or "cut a lemon into wedges and dip the tops in dried parsley for an appetising garnish."...) In complete contrast you now have Greg Malouf saying: "Parsley is one herb which is totally unsatisfactory when dried." And I have to say I agree with him. It's not even a different kind of herb like dried mint, for example. Why people buy it when it is so readily available fresh I have no idea. But you can still buy it in the supermarket. And I found somebody online selling it in bulk, but really not a massive number of recipes. So forget dry parsley - I even saw somebody recommend that you use a different herb if you haven't got fresh parsley, rather than dried parsley.

Initially I think the more innovative use of parsley came from the French and the Italians. Where would they be without persillade (chopped parsley and garlic) or gremolata (chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest). It's absolutely essential in a bouquet garni, and the fines herbes mix that is put in all manner of things from omelettes to quiche. Jane Grigson sums up the previous attitude of the English to parsley:

"It reminds us - of what? Boiled cod, on Good Friday, the relationship of centuries and civilisations reduced to green flecks in a white sauce. Sometimes I eat the parsley from the cold buffet dish in restaurants. Waiters look surprised. It isn't there for eating. Butchers decorate windows with plastic parsley."

And maybe we should be thanking her generation - Elizabeth David, Claudia Roden, Robert Carrier and continuing with Delia, Jamie and Nigella, for fresh parsley as used more widely than in parsley sauce for boiled ham. Although they all tell us how to do that too. I made it to now with my boiled beef and carrots the other day. And it was good. In Jane Grigson's wonderful book Good Things which was written some ten years or more later than Rosemary Hemphill's opus, early in the seventies, the emphasis is on the French use of parsley - particularly in fines herbes. The drawing above prefaces her chapter on parsley. I used to have one of those little Mouli herb choppers or grinders. I have no idea what happened to it. Nowadays I just use a big knife. Her basic fines herbes mix is as follows:

3-4 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon, 1 tablespoon watercress, 1 large clove garlic, crushed, grated rind of half a large lemon.

I suspect that the lemon, which admittedly she says is optional, is not really French. And I actually think a real French fines herbes would not have the watercress and would probably have chervil. The French put chervil in so many things - now there's a herb that hasn't made it into our kitchens in a big way.

In the past we had a tendency to just use it to pretty up dishes with a sprinkling on top. And it certainly does that - the fresh green colour brightens up a whole host of dishes. But these days it is used much more adventurously. So let's thank Yotam Ottolenghi et al for the parsley craze. Parsley is such a big ingredient for Middle-Eastern cookery which has become a big favourite with the world. Such a favourite indeed that Greg and Lucy Malouf weren't sure whether to include it in their book Arabesque - a selection of recipes and essays formed around typical Middle Eastern ingredients.

"Parsley is such a familiar and universal ingredient that even the most timid cook is happy to fling it about with gay abandon. We debated whether to include it in this book as it is so commonplace - that is to say its distinctive, vital flavour is included in just about every savoury recipe you can think of, in many different cuisines. But just because something is commonplace doesn't mean it is not worth a mention."

And he is not alone:

"While parsley's glorious, deep green hue and wonderful, fresh prettiness certainly do make many things look nicer, using it as mere culinary air-brushing is a lazy, anachronistic foible, and a waste of a fabulous ingredient." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

"When food comes garnished with a solitary sprig of curly parsley, it flags up a dish that's retro – not in an attractively nostalgic way – and a cook who has run out of ideas, even confidence." Joanna Blythman & Rosie Sykes - the Guardian

The trick seems to be to use lots. And I do mean lots. Which I do and which I now have.

The Guardian had some interesting things to do with parsley - more than the now common tabbouleh - though it had a recipe for that too.

They included - Uchucuta sauce with lamb chops and

Parsley gnocchi with goat's cheese and hazelnuts. There was even a recipe for meringues with lemon curd and parsley. How has the world moved on?

And finally one from the River Cottage people which I plan to make sometime soon - a kind of potato gratin.

POTATO AND PARSLEY BAKE

1kg large floury potatoes,

50-75g parsley leaves (stalks reserved)

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, very roughly chopped

300ml double cream

Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Fan160ºC.

Peel the potatoes, halve if very large and place them in a large pan with the parsley stalks. Cover with water, add a generous pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes to partially cook. Drain, reserving 200ml of the cooking liquid, and allow the potatoes to steam-dry in a colander. Discard the parsley stalks.

Once cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes into 1cm rounds. Lay them in a large shallow baking dish, in as close to a single layer as possible, mingling in the sliced onion and seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.

Pour the reserved potato cooking water into a jug blender, add the parsley leaves and garlic, and pulse until you have a fairly fine, vibrant green purée. Add the cream with some seasoning and pulse briefly to mix.

Pour the creamy parsley sauce over the potatoes and press everything down so it forms a fairly even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are nice and tender and the cream is thick and bubbling.

Leave to settle for a few minutes then serve the bake on its own, with some grated hard cheese on top if you like and salad leaves on the side, or as a side dish to roast chicken or grilled fish.