Parsley Oil
This vibrant green Parsley oil will brighten any dish and make you look like a qualified chef. It's truly stunning and eye-catching
Ingredients
- 4 cup parsley leaves (approx. 2 bunches) (NOTE 1)
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 1 cup grapeseed oil (or any neutral oil) (NOTE 2)
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Fill a medium saucepan 2/3 full with water and place it over high heat and bring it to a boil. Whilst waiting for the water to boil, separate the parsley leaves from the stems using kitchen scissors. Try to get rid of as much stem as you can because you won't get much colour from them. However, a bit of stem is okay but discard the remaining or keep them to flavour soup or stock.
- Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl of water with ice cubes.
- Once the water has boiled, place the parsley leaves in and blanch them for 20 seconds, then remove them with a strainer or slotted spoon. Immediately transfer the parsley into the ice water and leave for a minute.
- Squeeze and remove much water as you can out from the parsley. You can do this by transferring the parsley into a clean tea towel and then squeezing out the water.
- Place the oil and salt into a powerful blender or hand blender cup, then add the parsley. I prefer to use a hand-held blender because it chops the herbs to a very fine consistency, which may be hard to achieve with a regular blender. Blitz the mixture at high speed until the parsley leaves are very fine. They should look like tiny specks.
- Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the parsley mixture over the strainer, then use a paper towel to remove the bits stuck on the strainer. Repeat this 2 to 3 times by using another bowl to catch the strained mixture. Doing this will help filter the oil faster through the filter later.
- Set up a bowl or jug with a strainer over the top, but make sure it's steady, so it doesn't topple over. Place a fine cheesecloth or coffee filter in the strainer. I used pegs to secure the filter to the strainer. Pour the oil into the filter (you may need to do this in two lots) and let the clean parley oil filter through to the bottom into the jug. This is a slow process and may take anywhere from a few hours to overnight, depending on how fine the parsley leaves are. Don't force the oil out by pushing the mixture through because you may end up with leaves in the clean oil. What you want is vibrant green oil with no solids in it!
Notes
(NOTE 1) Parsley - I like my green herb oil to be mild and neutral in taste, so I can use it to garnish several dishes without worrying about it overwhelming the flavours of the dish. To achieve this, I used flat-leaf parsley, which is the mildest tasting herb. If you don't mind adding flavour to your dishes, then most herbs with soft green leaves would work such as basil, coriander (cilantro), chives, and spring onion (green onions, scallions). You could even mix the herbs up for equal amounts called for in this recipe.
(NOTE 2) Grape seed oil is quite expensive compared to other kinds of oil and may be difficult to find. I used grape seed oil because it's neutral in taste and it has that natural lovely yellow/green colour which will help bring out the vibrant colour of the Parsley Oil. In saying that, other neutral oils would also work, such as canola, vegetable or bran oil.
Storage - Transfer the parsley oil into a clean jar and cover. Store the jar in the fridge for up to 2 months. The parsley oil's vibrant colour may fade a little, but it'll still look pretty when used to garnish dishes.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 50kcalCarbohydrates: 0.4gProtein: 0.2gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 18mgPotassium: 33mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 505IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 0.4mg