Parsley

Now, I have done quite a bit of cooking in my time but there is one thing that I really just haven't grasped - the culinary obsession with parsley. It is an herb that is used almost ubiquitously, in so many of the cuisines with which I'm familiar; however, it is a culinary enigma to me. In its dried form, it has no real flavor. In effect, it tastes like nothing and is, in my opinion, only good to add the "herb look" to dishes such as lasagna and stuffed shells. In its fresh form, it tastes mildly like grass smells. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Maybe that is the "freshness" that it is supposed to add to dishes, the freshness of freshly cut grass... Anyway, there is fresh parsley in the dish that Andrew is preparing this evening. I am hoping that the flavor of the smoked paprika in the dish will overpower the "freshness" of the parsley.