Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Chanukah Recipe #2 It's green.


I wasn't kidding.  Not only is the appearance bright green, it tastes green too.  It tastes a bit like grass and a lot like what it is, which is a ton of pureed parsley, and it tastes like the perfect bright counterpoint to winter's earthy and mellow palate.

It's a little something I call Parsley Oil. (And now I'll call myself Captain Obvious.)
I created it to sparkle up another lentil soup- not this one, but one made of red lentils and a few root vegetables that I crafted for a "Family Dinner" a few weeks ago.  It epitomized everything awesome about lentil soup, but man, was it ugly.  It needed a kick, for both the mouth and the eyes.

So I blenderized and tasted, blenderized some more and came out with something so uniquely fresh that a week later a friend scooped up the leftovers with bread and called it dinner.
I think it solved the ugly problem, too.  What do you think?

Parsley Oil Condiment
This is one of those 1,000-use items.  Toss it in soup just before serving, use it on pasta, spread it on bread, add more olive and vinegar or lemon for a salad dressing, mix it with rinsed canned beans, and of course feel free to daub it on those latkes. 
1 bunch parsley (I used curly; flat-leaf Italian is more flavorful and would probably sub just fine), well rinsed and roughly chopped (a few stems are fine, the rest can go in the freezer to be thrown in veggie stock sometime)
1-3 large (or 2-5 small) garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 lemon, rinsed and cut in half
2-6 tablespoons of an olive oil that you like the taste of
Sea salt

1) Put the rinsed, chopped parsley in a blender or food processor.  Add the garlic.
2) Squeeze half of the lemon over the blender, with the lemon turned upside down and the juice dripping through the fingers of your other hand so you can catch and toss the seeds (not advisable if you have cuts on your skin!)
3) Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a good shake of salt.
4) Blend until the mixture adheres together and looks a bit like pesto.  With a blender, you may need to turn it off completely and scrape down the sides with a wooden spoon handle. Add more oil if it's not getting pureed.
5) Taste and add more olive oil, salt, garlic, and lemon as needed.
6) Stored well-covered in the fridge, this was fine a week later.  If it smells rank, toss it.  I imagine you could freeze it before it goes rank too.

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