Flat-Leaf Parsley: the Future is Now

[wowplantz]

I can't contain my enthousiasm for this stuff and wondered in what ways other people used it.

Delia would call it 'gutsy' and it makes salads positively manly. As a flavour enhancer it lifts the bland to the sublime, including cooked dishes.

For those of us wholly in touch with our feminine side it even looks pretty,
garnishing hot dishes in a final flourish.

And if like me you make a hash of your hashes, add a handful of this stuff and call the dish something else, like, Mongolian Ragout of Yak. Your friends won't rumble you and they'll be impressed.

I have no vested interest in the sale or distribution of this herb, but I do grow a lot of it myself.

[troll]

I know the current crop of celeb chefs rave over FLP , but I only ever use it as a salad leaf. I love parsley, but much prefer curly parsley for sauces, in dressings, added to casseroles and garlic butter.

[Ali]

Have curly parsely this year, the flavour has to be the same as flat tho surely! Made a wondeful parsely sauce for the fish last week from it - just can't beat proper fresh herbs plucked from the garden.

Had never thought of using it in salads! Spot on, will do

[Madame Moorhen]

I like it in salads but only like the curly kind. The other is a bit strong for that I think. It's much more attractive too in it's own right as a plant.

[Ali]

Apologies for my very poor spelling

[wowplantz]

Talking of hashes, and with winter just round the corner(!), it seems to me we could give corned beef hash a serious makeover using this stuff and cooked saucisson, and replacing baked beans with haricot beans, the seeds, not the green pods, and not using worsturshur (sp?) sauce at all, cos this parsley punches above its weight, and let's face it the French would never prepare something like corned beef hash anyway, and if one of the celeb chefs, who I never watch, so I'm out of touch, came up with such a makeover, some people would throw themselves prostrate at their feet, so we, between us, should be able to come up with something.

What do you think?

[ianh]

I think, woplantz, that you are coming seriously close to going off- topic here!

No, I'm teasing. I love the flat leaf parsley too and have been growing both sorts for years. Have you tried Hamburg Parsley - grown for its parsley tasting roots - I'm not so keen but know people who love it?

As someone who grew up on the other side of the Atlantic, where corned beef hash is a completely different "kettle of fish", I think you will get as many hash recipes as there are posters on this topic. Try googling it - you'll see what I mean. And, of course, it's a bit like bubble and squeak - a quick way of using up whatever is leftover often. My ex's (from Lancashire) was very much a stew type dish, whereas the one's I remember from Saturday night treats at the local drug store were much more mashed potato consistency and always served with eggs on top. I think the only common factor was onions, potatoes, corned beef - and of course parsley.

As for the French not preparing it, my friend Pascal came round one afternoon and ended up staying to eat with us - corned beef hash (obviously not a planned dinner party).. He now makes it himself - though corned beef is not as cheap an option here as it is in the UK. Apparently he first came across it made by Danish soldiers when he was a "casque bleu" - a UN peace-keeper in the Lebanon.

[wowplantz]

IanH! Somewhere, there's a link, however tenuous, between flat-leaf parsley and the UN peace-keeping force in the Lebanon, so don't worry about having wandered aimlessly off-topic, cos you haven't!

Very interesting background you have!

Best wishes

[ianh]

Talking about links - apparently you can make a connection between yourself and anyone else in the world in six steps.

[lib]

Dear Ian, at the risk of incurring wrath for off topic, I am minded to tell you that the above theory is rubbish.



I have just got up and walked 6 steps in 4 different directions and have met nobody.

PS
You must have 7 league boots or access to that good stuff