A Parsley Affair

 

This week I got totally jazzed about…Drum roll please…Parsley. (cymbal clash)

Yup Parsley, you know that green branch that arrived sitting proudly atop the fish you ordered last week at Easter brunch? Chances are you have never given it a second glance. Most people don’t consider this simple yet sturdy garden variety herb to be anything more than a dish decoration. This is as unfortunate for us as it is for parsley.

The truth is that Parsley is an extremely nutritious food that is completely under estimated and under utilized in kitchens across the world.

If it simply hadn’t occurred to you that parsley could be an actual food, then I am hoping that this blog post will have you reconsider your opinions of it.

In my mind parsley and cilantro really should be considered vegetables. Classifying them as herbs and using them as such only allows us to access about 1/10 of their potential. It’s a lot like having a Julliard quality cellist play in the middle school band.

Parsley is an incredibly healing little plant for two reasons.

*Impressive Nutrient profile

*Impressive Detoxification Abilities

Parsley is very good at cleansing the kidneys, purifying the lymph and ridding the body of heavy metals specifically aluminum and copper. Parsley gets a score of 91 out of 100 for nutrient completeness. Meaning that it contains 91 of the routinely measured 100 vitamins and minerals that are present throughout foods. That’s pretty good for a dish decoration don’t you think? Parsley is high in b-vitamins, folic acid, zinc, vitamin A, Vitamin C, and many minerals including calcium. Just one cup of parsley contains a whopping 83mg of calcium! Now who would have guessed that?

Parsley can be added to your smoothies, your fresh pressed juice and your salads to bring that refreshing taste that only parsley can provide. This month I have created a salad with parsley as the main ingredient. I am appropriately calling it a parsley salad.

My version of parsley salad is very similar to the Mediterranean parsley dish, Tabouli. The main difference is that I don’t add the bulgur wheat. Sometimes when I make this salad I add ½ cup of cooked quinoa to it to give it more of a Tabouli texture. Lately I have been leaving the quinoa out and just enjoying the parsley in all it’s glory.

 

Parsley Salad

1 bunch curly parsley

1 tomato off the vine – chopped small

1 tablespoon yellow onion minced

2 tablespoons extra virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon sea salt

 

Directions:

Wash and chop an entire bunch of parsley into 3 inch segments.

Put in food processor and pulse 4-5 times until thoroughly chopped.

In a medium size bowl place the chopped onion and tomato

In a measuring cup add olive oil, Lemon juice and sea salt. Whisk until blended.

Pour dressing over tomato and onion mixture. Stir to coat, add chopped parsley and mix well.

 

Serving options:

You can serve this as a vegetable side dish.

You can spoon this over a bed of mixed greens and eat it like a salad.

My husband eats it with tortilla chips. I eat it with cucumber slices.

You can eat it with “Mary’s gone crackers”.

How ever you choose to eat it know that you are doing something very good for your body.

 

Hooray!

-Dr. Purcell