Fab fare on the menu as holidays near

Whether our homes will welcome only family members or very special drop-ins during the holidays, from Thanksgiving through Christmas and on into the New Year, special culinary delights can add joy and pleasure to the gatherings. Today, and though the holidays, I’ve gathered unique and fabulous offerings from snacks to suppers to make them all extra-special. The shining star in many of the recipes is — believe it or not — parsley!

I guess we’ve all taken parsley pretty much for-granted over the decades. It’s been the little-noticed décor on plate-sides — and generally not eaten — that it was almost a joke. But parsley isn’t to be laughed at! It’s a power-house of vitamins and in its many guises of curly, flat-leaved, single- or many-stemmed and many varieties to add flavor and beauty to recipes — and gardens — can add pizzazz to many offerings. When Spring returns, I’ll devote a column to parsley in the garden, but for now, here are a couple of great starters! Enjoy!

Green Sauce for Grilled Salmon

1/2 cup finely minced parsley

1 Tbsp. minced chives

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp. Dijon-style mustard

2 Tbsps. vinegar –rice or white wine

In a mortar with pestle, mash the parsley, chives and garlic to a paste. Stir in the mustard. Then slowly blend in the oil, then the vinegar. Use immediately or store in a covered glass jar in the refrigerator for no longer than 24 hours. It can beautify and offer piquancy to salmon strips — as per our illustration — or be served in a bowl for dolloping onto a variety of dishes from veggies to rice.

Parsley is the “green” in couscous from Morocco and France, and in tabbouleh in the Near East. The ancient Greeks fed it to their racehorses for stamina and around their own necks at dinner to “keep them sober.” History has many neat vignettes we could share, but suffice it to provide one more recipe to flaunt its very real usefulness.

Couscous Salad

1 1/2 cups couscous

1 large tomato, chopped*

1 large garlic clove, mashed

Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

1/3 to 1/2 cup of minced parsley

2 Tbsps. fine olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Place couscous in a glass or pottery (non-metal) bowl and fill it with water. Let the couscous soak 3-5 minutes and carefully drain off the water. Add remaining ingredients and mix gently with a fork. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to let grain absorb the dressing before serving.

• Tomatoes are not really apropos to a winter salad, so I usually flaunt custom and substitute a handful of finely minced sweet red bell pepper and equally well-chopped celery stalks. Also, don’t use those “baby’ bells — they’re HOT and not nice for this dish.

Note: I was actually going to use a rice salad here, but the lightness of the couscous is more appropriate with the salmon.

Starting today and in upcoming columns I’m going to be offering some really knockout little recipes — generally featuring fruit that can be used during the holiday season for special go-withs as snacks, with meals, or as desserts. Following are two of them.

Oranges with Rosemary

5 oranges, peeled, separated into segments

1 cup cane sugar

3 large sprigs rosemary

2 cups water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whipped cream

In a saucepan over medium heat, place all ingredients except vanilla and whipped cream.

Cook, stirring gently, until syrup thickens slightly and oranges are hot through. This only takes a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Let mixture cool slightly. Pour into a pretty, shallow bowl and place a slotted spoon at hand. Let folks fill their own small bowls with the warm segments with the amount of syrup they wish, and have a bowl of chilled whipped cream at hand for those who wish to use it. (Are you kidding?!!) It seems possible that dishes of vanilla ice cream might be given immortality with such a topping as well.

Our final fruit delight comes from beautiful Maui. I’ve conceived my own ingredients as well.

Luau Baked Bananas

Perfectly ripe bananas, 1 per person

Butter

Wash skin: do NOT peel. Place bananas into a baking pan with a little water in it. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve as you would a baked potato, splitting the skin and inserting a pat of butter to melt inside.*

This recipe is a classic, but I wanted a more “desserty” one, so simply replaced the butter with a dash of cinnamon/sugar and put a dollop of whipped cream atop! Maybe work out a combination of the orange/rosemary recipe and offer both desserts (undressed) for a beautiful dessert plate!

More next time!

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com or by phone at 208-265-4688 between the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.