Notes on Persillade

Makes 1/3 cup

If someone asked me if there was one thing, anything, in my kitchen I could not do without, I would say it is persillade. It is simply garlic and parsley chopped together.

Used sparingly, this pure and simple mixture of two ordinary ingredients has the ability to transform any savory dish into an extraordinary symphony of flavors. We begin our day with preparing persillade, and we end the day by ordering more parsley and garlic for the next. It became a religious experience, a part of the holy trinity of seasonings in my kitchen. Every one of my cooks knows that most inconsistencies in seasoning can be fixed by adding salt, pepper, and persillade; it is an invaluable tool in our kitchen. I make quite a few references to it in my cookbook, so the recipe appears below. It is easy to make, and it holds well-covered in the refrigerator for a day or so; though it is best when made fresh.

I developed a taste for this flavoring element when Kimberly and I spent a year at a small restaurant in the center of France, near Limoges.

France has a gastronomic Mason-Dixon Line where the first thing put into the pan in the north is butter, and the first thing that goes into the pan in the south is olive oil. In the north, you find the use of shallots, and in the south, the use of garlic. The line holds if you think about the northern cooking of the Alsace. If you put garlic in their food, people act like you set their mouth on fire; they don't have a taste for it.

The line extends from the Loire Valley across France to about Lyon. The further south you go, the more garlic you find. So, you could expect to find the most assertive amount of garlic near Nice, and closest to Italy. The way garlic is used in Arles is different from how it is used in Nimes, two cities which can be seen from each other's church towers. In

Catholic Arles the tradition calls for using garlic uncooked, whereas in Protestant Nimes you might find the garlic fried.

In this country we have no distinct culinary traditions that define how to use garlic.

Though taking cues from our neighbor across the Atlantic it is important to note that garlic is a powerful tool and needs to be tamed to suit various preparations.

1 bunch Italian Parsley, washed, dried and picked

3 large cloves garlic peeled

Finely chop the parsley. Gather it to one side of the cutting board. Finely chop the garlic.

Mix the two together and chop some more until well incorporated. Transfer it to a small container, cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use.