Parsley Salad with Olives, Capers and Mint
Not a sad garnish of parsley, but a salad built on it — a vivid green tangle of herbs, olives and capers that cuts through anything rich. The thing to serve beside grilled meat or fish.
Treat parsley as a leaf, not a garnish, and it becomes one of the freshest salads there is — especially with the salty hits of olive and caper running through it.
What you need
A big bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked, plus a little mint; a handful of pitted green olives (a nutty Picholine or Lucques), chopped; a spoon of capers; thinly sliced shallot; and a sharp dressing of olive oil, lemon and a little garlic. Toasted pine nuts or almonds are a good addition.
Method
Dry the parsley well, toss the leaves with the olives, capers, shallot and nuts, and dress lightly with oil and lemon just before serving. Keep it loose and green.
Herb salads are ruined two ways: wet leaves and early dressing. Spin or pat the parsley bone-dry so the dressing clings instead of sliding off, and dress it only as it goes to the table — lemon wilts delicate herbs in minutes. Done right, it’s a sharp, salty, electric-green foil for anything rich: grilled lamb, oily fish, a fatty stew. The olives and capers mean you’ll barely need salt.