What do you do with leftover parsley?
In the last three days I have been cooking foods that require parsley as an ingredient. I would say parsley and cilantro (coriander) rank amongst the cheapest of herbs because you can always get a huge bunch for a dollar or less. In the end, I inevitably throw the ‘the bunch’ because I never know what to do with it after adding my required two-three tablespoons, chopped or garnishing my soup or roast potatoes. The simple question I ask today: What do you do with your leftover bunch of parsley?
This is what I normally do: cook with it on day one; garnish with it on day two; cook with it on day three, by then I am running out of patience, and so I throw the rest of the bunch in the freezer and basically forget it. The other day I was clearing my freezer (I panicked after watching Oz) and found almost five kilos of parsley, frozen, after impulsive bouts of cooking. Frustrated and at a loss with what to do with five kilos of parsley, I dumped it all in the bin. Then you know what? This whole cycle begins again: cooking, day one, two, three; dumping in the freezer, accumulating loads of frozen parsley. Anybody out there looking for tons of frozen (and forgotten) parsley?
I decided to do a bit of research to see what else I could do with the huge bunches of parsley I buy. The result? Garnish, cook with, add to, sprinkle on top and consume in moderation, nothing new. The same things repeated over and over again in different formats.
I was happy to learn that parsley is rich in vitamins A, C, K and folic acid (most important vitamin B). It’s also rich in iron and flavonoids especially, luteolin which, functions as an antioxidant. I also learned that it has oxalates and should be consumed in small amounts, especially those who suffer from kidney stones. (So how will I ever finish my bunch?) According to livestrong.com chewing parsley helps with bad breath, a sprig every morning keeps bad-breath-away-sort of thing.
Today I want to share with you a recipe for chicken-Pasta Soup. I decided to add green onions in it because I know what to do with leftover green onions. I never throw it. If you like, you can add parsley or cilantro in yours. Perhaps you know what to do with the leftovers? I hope you’ll like the soup. For once I enjoyed my soup (or did I slurp it?) without having to think of what to do with leftovers! Enjoy the soup, if you ever make it!
- Ingredients
- 15ml (1 tablespoon) olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 stalks celery, washed, trimmed and chopped (about 1 cup)
- ¼-½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 medium carrot chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1000-1500ml (4-6 cups, 1-1.5qt) low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 200g (7oz) pasta (I used conchiglie, shell shaped pasta)
- ¼ cup corn kernels
- 2½ cups rotisserie or boiled chicken, skinned and shredded (about 400g)
- 100g sugar snap peas
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped green onions
Please always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start cooking.
Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat,
add onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté for about 3 minutes.
Until onions are soft
Add celery, pepper and carrot.
Sauté 10 minutes or until almost tender, stirring frequently.
Add broth, bring to the boil, and simmer until carrots are almost done. (I added 1500ml, 6 cups)
Add soy sauce, pasta, corn and chicken, bring back to the boil, then reduce heat, simmer uncovered 7 minutes or until pasta is almost al dente.
Stir in sugar snaps, cook 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly heated and pasta is al dente. (If you like your sugar snap peas cooked till soft, add them earlier, I like mine crunchy). Adjust seasoning. Stir in green onions and serve.
Serve Hot
I really enjoyed eating or is it drinking this soup. It’s one of my favourites!
I hope you do too!!
Chicken-Pasta Soup with Sugar Snap Peas
Preparation time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 30 minutes: Serves: 4-6 depending on portions
Ingredients
- 15ml (1 tablespoon) olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 stalks celery, washed, trimmed and chopped (about 1 cup)
- ¼-½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 medium carrot chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1000-1500ml (4-6 cups, 1-1.5qt) low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 200g (7oz) pasta (I used conchiglie, shell shaped pasta)
- ¼ cup corn kernels
- 2½ cups rotisserie or boiled chicken, skinned and shredded (about 400g)
- 100g sugar snap peas
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped green onions
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat, add onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté for about 3 minutes.
- Add celery, pepper and carrot. Sauté 10 minutes or until almost tender, stirring frequently.
- Add broth, bring to the boil, and simmer until carrots are almost done. (I added 1500ml, 6 cups)
- Add soy sauce, pasta, corn and chicken, bring back to the boil, then reduce heat, simmer uncovered 7 minutes or until pasta is almost al dente. Stir in sugar snaps, cook 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Adjust seasoning. Stir in green onions and serve. (If you like your sugar snap peas cooked till soft, add them earlier, I like mine crunchy)
Make it vegetarian
Replace the chicken with 175g/6oz firm tofu cut into cubes.
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
if I have a lot of left over herbs i will chop them up and freeze them in the ice cube tray. Then put them in a zip lock bag. that way you have herbs on hand for salad dressing or other quick meal nights.
Thanks for this great idea. I usually freeze them but not in an organized way so I end up throwing them. Now I must try this ice cube method. I have even bought herbs in cubed form but never thought I could do it myself. Let me get chopping. I have a lot of left over mint from yesterday’s cooking. Have a pleasant weekend!
I am not a big fan of pasta but I will give this soup a go… it looks so tasty
Haha the soup tasted very nice. You should give it a try. Thanks for being here. Have a wonderful day.
It looks lovely and fresh
and tastes lovely and fresh. Thanks for being here. Have a pleasant day!
You have saved me…one good dinner idea I’ve got now 🙂
Haha I loved the soup, so simple but really nice, You should try it and let me know how it goes, I am getting ready to go to bed in a few minutes. Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!!! I shall visit your blog tomorrow!
Sure…Have a good night 🙂
It must be mid-morning now? Enjoy your tea break and lunch Thanks!
Hello Liz,
The picture looks really good. I bet the chicken pasta soup tastes as good as it looks.it has given me an idea for dindin tomorrow. Thank you for sharing.
Have a fabulous week ahead.
Thanks for the compliments. The soup tasted very nice. I enjoyed eating it, plus it’s really easy to make. Thanks for stopping by. You too, have a fantastic week! Hope to see more of you? take care!!!
Liz
I love parsley and I grow it in my yard. When I start getting overrun with it then I make a big batch of tabbouleh, which also helps use up my mint! Another thing I do is toss into my juicer with carrots and cucumbers and it makes a great drink.
Hi Jo,
Nice to know that you grow it in your yard but not all the year round?, Alberta is cold. I have a few herbs in a few pots but that’s it. I must add tabbouleh to my repertoire of parsley recipes, I am currently collecting recipes to avoid throwing bunches of parsley. Okay I must get a juicer, then perhaps I can smooth it into a drink as well. Thanks for sharing and thank for stopping by my blog. Enjoy your Sunday evening and have a pleasant week.
Looks terrific – love your writing style too!
Hi Keith,
Long time no see, but I’ve been seeing you on the blogosphere very often and glimpsing all that lovely food you cook everyday. Your food life is definitely exciting plus you have local butchers and all those lovely cuts of meats. I shall be visiting “From Alfredo’s with Love before the end of today” Wish you a peaceful Sunday and happy eating! When is your football club having a match again? Kind regards to your family.
Close season for soccer now, Liz. All starts again late August. Love you dropping by. Thanks as always for all your kind words – makes it all worthwhile!
Hi there Keith,
I am working on my post for tonight and then I shall take a long break with a glass of lemonade at ” From Alfredo’s with love” I am sure good things are sizzling there. Thanks so much for visiting. Enjoy your Sunday dinner or is it supper? and wish you the best of the coming week! Liz
I use an awful lot of parsley and, when all else fails, my parrot loves it, too.
This soup of yours sound wonderful, Liz, especially with our temperatures taking a nosedive tonight. I need to go look in my freezer and see if I’ve any soup in there for lunch tomorrow. 🙂
Thanks for stopping here, physically. Nice to know you use a lot of parsley and new to me ‘”parrots eat them too!”
Hi John
I liked the soup. It’s really simple to make but was very flavourful. The temperatures also dropped here yesterday, and I love it because air conditioners are not my favourite things. Happy eating of whatever you have for lunch 2morrow. Enjoy your Sunday and wish you a lovely week!
I have a pretty good sized herb garden next to my huge vegetable garden, which by the way I weeded all morning. Ugh! Anyway I love cilantro too. Great for Mexican and Indian cooking. I had to trim back the thyme because it took up half my space! Also added lemongrass this year. What is better than mint for a mojito or basil for fresh pesto sauce?! I think I am getting hungry! Too hot for me to think about soup right now, it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit today, but it looks yummy.
I envy you more than words can say. Great to know you have a good sized veggie garden plus a herb garden. I love herbs but I don’t have a garden. Cilantro is my favourite too. I love thyme too, I have a little pot thyme in my Kitchen, and few pots of other herbs. Lemon grass is great for Thai Cooking but I also love lemon grass tea. It’s very hot here as well-temperatures are up to 86 deg F right now. Thanks for always visiting this blog and for always joining the conversation. Have a lovely Sunday. Hope you take a break from gardening on Sundays? Best Regards, Liz
Hi Liz, thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. I am so glad to have found yours and am looking forward to reading more! The soup looks wonderful. Flat leaf parsley is a favorite herb of mine – I didn’t know all of it’s health benefits though! I do have some growing in my herb garden but the hot Arizona sun is starting to take a toll on it now that summer is here. I like to use left over parsley or parsley that is getting a little “old” and make a pot of chicken stock, which freezes well and is always nice to have on hand.
Thank you so much for stopping by mine too and for reading the post. I really appreciate that you took some time to read the post. Thanks for complimenting the soup too. I too, prefer flat parsley and I envy you because you have you have a herb garden. I don’t have one. I just have a few herbs in little pots. It’s getting quite hot here in Ontario as well. I make stock several times a week coz I love making soup. I shall be adding some parsley to my stock, now, but I also got some recipes and ideas from other bloggers. Thanks you so much for joining the conversation. I look forward to seeing you more. Have a lovely weekend, despite the hot Arizona sun. Liz
If I plan ahead, I’ll make tabbouleh with the rest of a bunch of parsley; it’s practically an herb salad. I once made a cilantro pesto, which was pretty decent, but it’s been several years since I tried it.
Okay could you please give me that tabbouleh recipe so that I can use some two bunches of parsley I have right now in my fridge. I would appreciate very much thank you. Thanks so much for reading the post, I really appreciate that. Have a pleasant day and a lovely weekend!!!
I don’t have a usual recipe that I use. This recipe looks pretty decent: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tabbouleh-recipe/index.html I usually leave out mint, and adjust everything to taste; mine’s usually garlicky and lemony. This recipe is a little different and really puts the emphasis on the herbs rather than the bulgur wheat: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/06/tabbouleh-recipe-anissa-helou/
Leona, thanks so much for sharing these two recipes. I shall give you a feedback. And thanks so much for joining the conversation. Have a lovely Sunday. Best Regards, Liz
This soup looks great, I love the idea of throwing in the sugar snap peas at the end. Also, I am actually obsessed with flat-leaf parsley and never have enough of the stuff! (What leftovers?!) I use it to make salsa verde, parsley-garlic sauce – which makes a great dipping sauce for crudites or a dressing for steamed veggies, or one of the best things I’ve ever eaten – parsley soup!! As far as the curly stuff goes, I’m not a huge fan but here in Belgium they deep fry it and serve piles of it alongside croquettes. Tastes kind of like the fried seaweed you can get in Chinese restaurants. Sorry for the long post, I could talk about parsley forever! – SP
And tastes great, thanks for the compliment, for making me laugh and for leaving a long comment. I love talking to people and so I really enjoyed reading your comment. I also tend to like the flat leaf more although I must admit I love Cilantro (Coriander) even better than them all. My mother used to cook with it all the time. It was her favourite herb. Please link me to these recipes you quote here: the salsa verde, parsley-garlic-sauce too. And please can you also link me to parsley soup or does the soup require the root parsley? I must try deep frying the curly leaf, I have a huge bunch in my fridge right now. I used it to garnish soups and now I don’ know what to do with the leftovers. I love it that you love parsley with a passion. Thats good. We all have a passion of some sort. Thanks so much for stopping here wish you a good day and a lovely weekend. Liz
I love cilantro too! I know a lot of people think it tastes like soap but I love how it goes with so many cuisines – Indian, Mexican, even Chinese! What is your favourite use for it? Going back to parsley though 🙂 – I posted a recipe for salsa verde here: http://tccooking.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/ricotta-herb-mini-pizzas/. The parsley-garlic sauce is a recipe I found in a magazine, I’ll make sure to blog about it soon! And this is the best parsley soup recipe I’ve found: http://www.thetiffinbox.ca/2012/07/home-grown-parsley-and-potato-soup.html. Hope they help you use up your stock of it! Hope you have a fabulous weekend too -SP
You can add cilantro to virtually anything you cook at the end of the cooking to preserve flavour and colour. Or add it to all the recipes that require flat leaf parsley too. A lot of people don’t like it but as I said my mother cooked with it all the time and I developed a taste for it. I use it in rice, beef, pork dishes,vegetable salads, and it goes well with coconut milk. Thanks for the two recipes, I shall make them over the weekend coz I have parsley right now and If I don’t use it in the next four days it will end up in a bin. Thanks so much and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Mmm! Looks delicious! And I absolutely love parsley and cilantro! I grow a bit of parsley, basil, mint, and rosemary. I’d like to add some more herbs to my garden 🙂
I do love them too, but I love Cilantro more. My mother used to cook with it all the time. Lucky you, growing herbs is the best solution to having a good supply of fresh herbs without wastage. Just pick what you need to use and leave the rest! Thank so much for stopping here and have a wonderful weekend!
I also made chicken soup the other night, the ingredients I used were the same as yours.. down to the ginger and sugar snap peas!! Oh, but I used lemongrass too and didn’t use soy sauce. But I remember considering of using it though. Funny huh?
I love chicken soup and i love this one too. It’s one of my favourites. I see we think alike, very funny. Have pleasant day and a wonderful weekend! hope to see more of you!
I love your soup! Looks like a hug in a bowl. 🙂 I extended my herb garden this year to include parsley, cilantro, basil and dill! Last year I started thyme, mint, sage, chives and oh my! They are all growing like weeds! For this reason I love the Pacific Northwest!
I just envy people with herb gardens, If I had one I would spend the whole day sniffing and cooking. The best way to use herbs is to get them directly from the garden, no wastage, very fresh and sustainable. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your extended herb garden!!!
I can’t wait to try this soup for myself! I switched to growing my own herbs in my little greenhouse window because like you, I could never use the whole bunch of parsley or cilantro before it went bad or I forgot about it. Now, I just use the little I need for each meal and let the plant keep growing. And seeds are even cheaper than the bunch!
Omg I really admire you. This spring I bought some herbs in little pots but a little garden is far much better. It’s the best for cooking because one always needs just a few sprigs of herbs. I totally agree that seeds are hundred times cheaper than herbs. You must be enjoying the cooking. Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by.!
Easy meal from leftover, taste yummy and healthy. In this cool weather in Australia, nothing can beat a hot bowl of soup like this. Thumb up!
Thanks for liking my soup, how is Australia? Cool weather and soup sure go together. Xoxo to Louise and have a great weekend!!!! Liz
Today I finally threw out a bunch of parsley which was looking a little yellowed. I’d probably used about half and plunked the remainder in a glass with water. I’m not sure but I think it was over a week old, maybe even two!! I never thought to freeze it. Liz, your photos are so beautiful……I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, If I could, I’d reach in and grab one of those!!
Hey thank you so much for being here. I have two bunches of parsley right now in my fridge. Flat leaf and Curly leaf, I garnished some soups and took photos and now I’m wondering what to do with them. I freeze and throw all the time because frozen ones can’t be used for garnishing, Thanks so much for complimenting my photos, It gives me reason to keep on trying to take even better ones. I wish you a fantastic weekend!!! Liz
This is my basic recipe for using up whatever leftover veggies, pasta, and/or meat that I have. No need to start from scratch. To the leftover soup from this meal, add a bit of tomato paste (and/or sauce and/or pieces of tomato) and some beans – almost any kind – et voilå – minestrone!
What an easy way to make instant minestrone soup. I love this soup and I love minestrone as well. You always have great ideas, thanks for this. Have a wonderful weekend. and thanks for always being here!!!