Winter’s green garnishes

Green is the color associated with spring, but winter menus have their green highlights too.

By FAYE LEVY
Herbed Meatballs 311 (photo credit: Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune/MCT)
Herbed Meatballs 311
(photo credit: Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune/MCT)
Green is the color associated with spring, but winter menus have their green highlights too. Two popular herbs – parsley and cilantro, or fresh coriander – flourish in the cold weather.
When the color palette of our ingredient basket is not as varied as during other seasons, these two herbs enhance our menus, lending freshness and nutrients.
Parsley and green coriander go well with countless foods, from fish, meat and vegetables to pasta and rice. As they are both rich sources of vitamins C and A, nutritionists recommend using them liberally.
They are valuable for brightening the pale foods of winter – white foods like mashed potatoes, cauliflower soup and braised turnips – and for enlivening our salads of tomatoes and cucumbers, whose colors are weaker during this time of year. These days, when I sprinkle parsley or cilantro on my soups and salads, the herbs’ green hue seems more vivid than at other seasons.
Both herbs are native to the Mediterranean region and have spread around the world, although they were not immediately accepted. According to theepicentre.com Encyclopedia of Spices, in medieval times parsley was surrounded by much superstition and some therefore refused to grow it, “one belief being that the long germination period for the seeds was due to their having to travel to hell and back seven times before sprouting.”
Europeans and Americans think of parsley as a familiar herb and consider cilantro a hallmark of “exotic” cuisines – Mexican, Indian and East Asian. It’s hard to imagine Mexican salsas or Indian or Thai curries without it. Parsley is traditional in Ashkenazi cooking, while both cilantro and parsley have long been favorite seasonings throughout much of the Sephardi community.
Parsley is best known as a garnishing herb, arranged in sprigs around roasts and grilled entrees and embellishing soups, sauces and salads with flecks of green. Julie Sahni, author of Savoring Spices and Herbs, describes its flavor as a “mildly piquant, almost bitter taste with a delicate camphoric aroma reminiscent of French lavender and lemon.”
One of her favorite uses is in parsley zest, for which the parsley is combined with minced garlic and grated lemon zest for sprinkling over soups, seafood and vegetables. Italians call this mixture “gremolata” and add it as a finishing touch to braised osso buco, or veal shanks.
Flat leaf parsley, also known as Italian parsley, is the type preferred in the Middle East. Americans and some Europeans use milder curly-leaf parsley also; it is especially useful for decorating platters.
Cilantro is an acquired taste because, wrote Sahni, it “contains a chemical compound with a penetrating odor.”
In recipes, parsley is often listed as a substitute for those who don’t care for fresh coriander.
If you do like cilantro, you can substitute it for parsley in many dishes for a different effect. European cooks make green sauces by pureeing parsley with vinaigrette or mayonnaise to serve with poached meats and fish. Green tehina, the Middle Eastern cousin of these sauces, is made by the same technique. When made with fresh coriander instead of parsley, these sauces gain a new, pleasing taste.
Adding fresh coriander to Israeli salad is an easy way to prepare a lively variation of the daily staple. Both parsley and cilantro can be substituted for basil to make winter pesto.
We are lucky to have both herbs readily available. Some cooks, especially those of North African origin, often combine them in a single dish. This surprised me at first. When a friend from Tunisia gave me her recipe for meatballs, I asked why she used parsley together with cilantro, as I thought that cilantro’s more pungent flavor would overpower the parsley. Her reply was that each contributes a different flavor. Indeed, her meatballs were delicious.
Moroccan chef Michel Ohayon of Koutoubia, a Moroccan restaurant in Los Angeles, feels the same way. He uses both parsley and cilantro, along with saffron and cinnamon in the filling, for his chicken bastilla, a savory and sweet filo-crusted chicken pie.
Melanie Bacri, author of 100 recettes de cuisine familiale juive d’Algerie (100 recipes of Algerian Jewish Family Cooking), also combines both herbs in some dishes. To make an entree of fish balls in tomato pepper sauce, she flavors ground fish with cilantro, parsley, garlic, turmeric and red pepper. She likes cilantro so much that she even adds some to her version of tabouleh, along with the traditional parsley and mint.
Don’t discard the stems of parsley and cilantro. Cilantro stems are tender enough to be chopped along with the leaves. Parsley stems can be simmered in vegetable or chicken broth to add a pleasant flavor, and then removed before the soup is served.
Keep parsley and cilantro in open plastic bags in the refrigerator. Parsley keeps about five to seven days, cilantro usually less than that. Both should be rinsed before being used, but do not rinse them before storing them; they keep best if they are dry.
Dry parsley and cilantro before chopping them, and use a dry knife and a dry cutting board.
Faye Levy is the author of Feast from the Mideast.
FRENCH PARSLEY PUREE
When used as a vegetable, as in this recipe, it is amazing how flavorful parsley is. Blanching, or cooking the parsley briefly in boiling water, keeps the herb’s color a bright green.
Serve this puree in small portions or to accompany fish, hard boiled eggs or rice or alongside mashed potatoes or turnip or carrot puree.
350 gr. parsley
50 gr. (1⁄4 cup) butter
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Use small parsley sprigs, discarding large stems. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook sprigs, uncovered, over high heat 1 minute. Drain, rinse under cold running water until cold, and drain thoroughly.
Squeeze by handfuls until dry.
Puree parsley in a food processor or blender until very finely chopped. Add 1⁄2 cup cream and puree until smooth.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat, add parsley mixture and heat until hot. Stir in remaining 6 tablespoons cream and salt and pepper to taste, and heat gently, stirring, about 2 minutes, or until cream is absorbed. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve hot, with a spoonful of puree for each dish.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
HERBED MEATBALLS
These flavorful meatballs are seasoned with parsley, cilantro, onions and garlic. After simmering them in tomato sauce, serve them over rice or with pasta.
Instead of using beef, you can make them with minced chicken.
450 gr. lean beef, ground
3 Tbsp. bread crumbs
1 onion, minced
2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
4 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
1⁄2 tsp. dried oregano
1⁄2 to 1 tsp. paprika
1⁄4 tsp. cayenne, or more to taste
1⁄2 tsp. salt, or more to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
2 cups tomato sauce
1⁄2 cup water
Put beef in a bowl. In another bowl mix bread crumbs with onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and egg. Add mixture to beef and mix well. Shape mixture into small balls, using 1 or 2 tablespoons for each. Roll them between your palms until they are smooth.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Add meatballs in batches, without crowding skillet, and brown them on all sides over medium-high heat. Transfer to paper towels with slotted spoon.
Heat tomato sauce and water in a medium saucepan. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add meatballs, cover and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are done to your taste. Taste sauce for seasoning, adding a pinch of cayenne pepper if desired.
Makes 4 or 5 servings.