The ever so humble parsley

For us meat loving home chefs, we can adopt many hacks, skills, and knowledge to achieve that restaurant quality edge. If we can do this then we can enjoy a terrific lifestyle while beating the restaurant prices and impress family and friends in the process.

This leads me to introduce the humble fresh parsley.

It is such a simple fresh herb that can be relied upon to be available all year round in Australia. You can even grow it yourself!

Its colour and texture adds visual appeal as well as flavour to red (and white) meat dishes. Finely chop it and use it in the following ways:

Directly on any meat dish (as a garnish) whether it is a roast, braised dish, BBQed, grilled or pan fried.
In a sauce to be ladled over meat.
In a salsa that will act as an accompaniment.
Mix with ground spices and seasoning to coat over meat.
Mix it with ingredients such as fresh garlic and seasoning to be bruised and crushed in a mortar and pestle to serve on top of or beside the meat.

If we want to have parsley as a part of our repertoire, to get the most of it, proper storing is essential.

Proper storage will maximise its freshness.

Here’s how to make sure that your parsley is so fresh, crispy, and full of life for at least 2 weeks:

Store in a tray surrounded by damp paper towels. I have a simple spray can filled with water to lightly spray the paper towel – one underneath and one above the parsley then sit in a tray and cover with cling wrap then refrigerate.

Why do this?

As with all fresh herbs (that should also be stored in this manner), it is all about retaining moisture. Parsley, as with all fresh herbs, loses moisture when exposed to air. When that happens (when it loses moisture), it wilts.

The ability to cook meat relies on many factors. However, if you can incorporate fresh parsley for the above-mentioned reasons in your cooking of meat, you will produce restaurant quality in terms of taste, texture and interesting visual appeal.