Your New Best Friends

Here's to herbs, the greens of summertime. Forget that fey sprig of parsley desultorily garnishing your plate and go full tilt green: chop half the bunch into your salad or main dish. You'll be rewarded with color, zip and memorable flavor.  Farmers' markets have gone green with parsley, mint, cilantro, basil--the surprisingly nutrient rich, tasty greens Mother Nature wants us to eat right now.

Mint
It's sharp, cooling flavor is a burst of freshness in summer heat or beside a hot spicy dish that's making you sweat. It brightens fruit salads and yogurt, adds zest to ice tea and zing to make salads special. It's got hard to find manganese, copper and vitamin C. It seems to kill bad gut bacteria and definitely calms a queasy stomach. It's thought to aid breathing for asthmatics.

You can chop mint into Greek yogurt with minced cucumbers, salt, pepper, a minced clove of garlic and a squirt of lemon juice to get a cooling condiment or side dish known is South Asia as raita.

Back in May I posted a terrific recipe for a fresh pea and mint "hummus" that makes a perfect crostini with a dollop of soft goat cheese on top.

One of my favorite summer salads for 4 right now is 4 large handfuls of arugula, 4 fresh dates pitted and chopped, a large and firm black plum pitted and sliced thin, 4 scallions diced, 1 tbsp chopped walnuts, 2 salad turnips quartered and sliced thin for crunch, 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan and 1 tsp minced fresh mint leaves--all tossed together. Dress with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp good fruity olive oil, a small garlic clove smashed, salt and pepper. (Use only as much dressing as you like.)

Last March in Nepal I learned to make a delightfully tasty sauce that surprises the tongue by chopping together a bunch of mint, a bunch of cilantro, a small green chili pepper, sea salt and black pepper. In Nepal this was thinned into a sauce with water; I've been using olive oil. That turns this into a fantastic dip for, say, roasted baby new potatoes or fresh baby carrots or skewers of grilled zucchini and eggplant; a terrific sauce to put over roasted soy beans or roasted eggplants, even pasta when it's a side dish for grilled meat.

Parsley
Raw parsley is a natural breath freshener because it neutralizes stomach acids. It’s high in iron and vitamin A, folic acid and Vitamin C so it should be high on your list of everyday food.

Parsley is the essence of Green Sauce used in Europe on mussels and chicken: recipe is in How to Fix a Leek...the book.  Parsley is also the essence of Middle Eastern Tabouli: properly made tabouli should have as much parsley as bulgur.  Parsley should provide a really green backdrop for those chopped tomatoes because this dish was originally created to cool and water the body in the sweaty heat of summertime.

Parsley's also the essence of the beloved South American sauce known as chimichurri. Put this together in a bowl and serve with your grilled steak to make it heavenly: 1 c chopped parsley, 2/3 c good olive oil, 1/3 c fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp minced fresh garlic, 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste.

One of the easiest tastiest summer salads/antipastos I know is Italian Tuna Bean Salad that can quickly be made by opening cans: a 7 oz can of olive oil packed tuna and a 13 oz can white/cannellini beans drained.  Combine them in a bowl with a half bunch of fresh parsley chopped (about 1 cup) and a small red onion minced. Add salt, pepper and optionally a tbsp capers.  Dress with the juice of 1 lemon and fruity olive oil and dig in.

Cilantro
Often called Chinese or Mexican parsley, this peppery herb will put kick into anything you want to serve. I've taken to chopping the leaves right into lettuce salads to add unexpected zip that perks the taste buds.  (See earlier post for American Fattoush.) I also use it instead of basil to make a southwestern flavored ratatouille, substituting a red bell pepper for the green and yellow squash for zucchini. A full recipe is in my book Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking available at bookstores or via Amazon or as an e-book.

Cilantro makes a powerfully peppery pesto. The people in Mongolia went wild for it on spaghetti. I've had it stuffed into memorable ravioli.  Just substitute cilantro for basil in any pesto recipe. Sometimes I also substitute toasted sunflower seeds for pine nets just to do something different--and cheaper. You can freeze pesto although the garlic flavor will disappear so when you thaw, add garlic.

See the mint section above for another cilantro sauce.
And finally here's a Moroccan cilantro mix that's divine for baking fish or roasting chicken parts:
for 4, mix together 2  bunches cilantro roughly chopped, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 smashed and minced large garlic cloves, 1 serrano chili minced, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 2 tbsp paprika, 1/2 c olive oil and the juice of a large lime. (I actually pile everything into a food processor and zzz quickly.) Slather this all over a thick piece of white fish or chicken parts. Let them sit an hour on the counter or overnight in the fridge. Bake the fish at 400º 12-15 minutes; the chicken 30.