Topic · Vegetable Cookery Fundamentals
Chopping Parsley
Parsley used to be a gross-looking garnish on the side of your plate. Now, we think of it as one of the best. Put herbs to work in your cooking! Parsley adds a bright but relatively neutral herbal flavor to almost any dish and it is rich in iron.
Wash parsley carefully: like spinach, it tends to retain sand and dirt. Swish it gently in cold water until it is clean, changing the water if necessary, but do not leave it to soak. Pat dry in a clean cloth before chopping.
Gather the washed parsley leaves into a tight ball and hold them with one hand on the cutting board. Using a large cutting knife, slice across the parsley, bringing the knife down and forward or down and backward while sliding it along the mid-section of the fingers of the other hand.
Then, holding the handle firmly in one hand, rest the fingers of the other hand on top of the blade (this hand does not apply much pressure on the blade, but rather directs it), and bring the front of the blade down first, then back up.
Repeat in a staccato up and down motion until the parsley is finely chopped.
Draw the pieces together in a heap as you go along. The speed at which the fingers move back determines how finely the parsley is chopped.
