Picky eaters usually oblige themselves to be polite in any given dining table not to offend their hosts or loved ones. They do not wish to be part of non-captioned comic strip stories where their hosts and loved ones stab their napes once they hit the bull's eye in lending criticism, but they all agree on wasting an irrelevant set of seconds on removing food garnish from their plates. Either they tuck it beneath the food and sparingly just chew on it by random chance, separate it from what they consider edible, or rudely flick it away when you are not looking. I can just imagine these sprigs or peels as poor little elves in a far far away forest hand-picked by gargoyles to be extorted.

Parsley is the most famous food garnish we never forget to buy. It is the last teletubby that completes the family portrait of food presentation. It is very versatile but sadly, it deserves a little more respect because parsley is in fact packed with so much flavor from leaf to stem. It works like mint and cilantro to lend you fresh breath if you chew it. It lowers blood pressure if osterized with ice cubes, lemon juice and cucumber. It imparts a cool taste if it is mixed with a few ingredients to make a classic Parsley Sauce. (I liked it when I used it to smother deep-fried porkcops)

Parsley Sauce
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon rock salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Italian parsley, washed, dried and finely chopped
2-3 native shallots, minced to a paste

Just whisk the lemon juice with cumin, coriander and salt. Incorporate the olive oil in a fine stream to emulsify the sauce then stir in the parsley and shallots.

You can amp this sauce into a creamy version by adding a few dollops of all purpose cream while whisking all the ingredients on a saucepot on medium flame.

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