Parsley Dill Soup Recipe and a Chopped Parsley Salad for Becca! (FINALLY CORRECTED)

Thank goodness Becca and Barbara Swain the author of the Chopped Parsley Salad are proofreading my recipes!  Here is the corrected Parsley Soup and Parsley Salad recipe!  Both are correct now, Becca.  Two key ingredients were left out, butter and potato!  Then I got a comment from the Parsley Salad's author, Barbara Swain and still hadn't corrected the recipe because I kept thinking that the 3/4 cup celery was parsley!  This is why I don't share recipes often because I can't get them correct!  Finally, I think everything is good and correct.  Please let me know if it isn't, won't you?

Becca from A Southern Garden by Becca asked me to do some posts on what herbs I grow and how I use them.  It's a great question, Becca and here are some suggestions for parsley.  I know you live in the south, Becca and don't have much cold weather, but I think you could eat this soup cold as well as hot.   It's very easy to make and you can double it very easily if you need to.  This is taken from an earlier post.  My mother always made me eat my parsley garnish when we would go out for dinner. She was right, it is rich in vitamins A, C and magnesium. This is one curly parsley (Petroselium crispum var. crispum) that has grown well in the herb garden. I love using it as a hedge in a garden. Although as it is a biennial, it goes to seed the following year. I really use it as an annual. I always have several Italian flat-leaf parsleys (Petroselium crispum var. neapolitanum) in different spots in my garden.  You always want to harvest outside leaves first and keep the core leaves in the center of the plant growing.  When I harvest parsley for the winter, I bring it in and placed it in plastic containers for the freezer. I have also placed it in plastic bags. I think the containers work a little better. Parsley does stand up to a light frost. I know some cover theirs with a basket and continue to harvest it from the garden until a killing frost comes. Here is a picture of the Italian (by way of Peru) flat-leaf parsley in bloom. An excellent larval food for the swallowtail butterflies. Here is a favorite soup recipe from a favorite herb farm of mine, Buffalo Springs Herb Farm. Sadly they are no longer in business.

Parsley Dill Soup
1 large onion, chopped or thinly sliced
2 large carrots, scrubbed, sliced thin
4-6 tablespoons butter
1 large potato, scrubbed, sliced thin
4 cups stock (vegetable or chicken) heated
1 cup fresh Italian parsley (frozen works
just fine)
1/2 teaspoon of dill seed
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine onion, carrot, butter and potato in covered saucepan and stew for about 10 minutes, add dill seed.   Add stock and simmer for another 30 minutes.  Cool slightly. Add parsley and puree in blender.  Reheat and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with parsley and/or fresh dill garnish
Serves 4.

This is a very easy salad to make for grilled chicken, pork chop or any entree really.  It's very light and fresh.

Chopped Parsley Salad

3/4 cup lightly-packed chopped parsley

3/4 cup minced celery

1/4 minced green onions (about 4 onions)

2 to 3 tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice or white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine parsley, celery and green onions in a medium bowl.  Toss with oil until well-coated.  Toss with lemon juice or vinegar and salt and pepper.  Makes 2 servings.

Courtesy Swain, Barbara.  Barbara Swain's Cookery for 1 or 2. Tuscon:  H.P. Books, 1978.

Barbara Swain came by to comment on this post this morning.  She writes:

Thank you, Lemon Verbena Lady, for referencing the Chopped Parsley Salad recipe from my book of so long ago. Your readers will need to know to include the 3/4 cup chopped, lightly packed parsley. Believe me, I know how this happens. The back story on this recipe is that, as a food stylist in Los Angeles, I was always left with parsley and often celery and green onions that were purchased as possible garnishes for food in commercials or magazine photos. I'm not able to waste food so I developed this recipe.

I consider almost all salads as a place to use up many produce items. This one lends itself to the addition of finely chopped radishes, mushrooms, cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli (flowers or stems) and any color of sweet bell pepper to replace part of any of the other ingredients.

Thank you Barbara for stopping by and commenting with the back story of the parsley salad recipe.  I have always enjoyed this recipe and now I will enjoy it even more since you have enhanced the story with your words!

Hope this gives you some ideas, Becca.  I'll be thinking of other uses.  Basil recipes to come.  Love answering your questions and always love your comments.  Hope you had a great day.