Hi, foodies in the Hive!

Long time no see! I hope you're having a nice day 😁 I finally made a plant based recipe that I felt like sharing in the community. It's simple, flavorful and useful 👌 And if you ask me, this sauce is a scrumptious dressing for root vegetables and salads.

Because of the ingredients it contains, this sauce contributes a lot to our overall health. It's good for our skin, for controlling blood sugar, for stimulating red blood cell production and even for happiness--if you ask me.

You might've heard chimichurri is popular in Argentina. We Venezuelans are more guasacaca people than chimichurri people, but in general, I think you can find it in many homes, just like salmoriglio or basil pesto. When I was a teenager, I used to make parsley and garlic mojitos for barbecues; with time I was discovering combinations of vegetables for so many raw sauces, with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, spring onion, sage and so many others... but truly, chimichurri is some raw sauce.

A sad meal suddenly becomes a feast of flavors and colors with just the addition of some chimichurri.

I think that toppings like this are an extraordinary but simple way to save a boring dish. Ah, chimichurri is one of my favorite hacks.

INGREDIENTS

My version of chimichurri includes cilantro and both sweet and hot chili peppers.

About 300gr fresh cilantro and parsley

2 tablespoons dry oregano

1 cup finely chopped chili peppers
(I used half sweet chili peppers and half hot chili peppers, all local)

4 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic

About 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

75 ml white vinegar

150 ml olive oil

1 teaspoon brown sugar

salt to taste

2 teaspoons freshly crushed black pepper

Glass containers to store the chimichurri in the fridge

THE PROCESS

FIRST

The first thing is always to wash the necessary vegetables. I had a little more than 350 grams of fresh parsley and cilantro. I guess after removing most of the stems, I had about 200 grams left. I soaked these herbs in water and then washed them while the root vegetables were cooking.

Today I made creamy broccoli soup for lunch; so I put the potatoes and carrots that I would serve with the chimichurri on top of the vegetables in the soup pot. I also added a lone corn on the cob to today's menu. We'd share it.

SECOND

Peel and crush the garlic cloves. I used my old mortar and pestle. Chimichurri is one of those sauces that must be made by hand; if you use a food processor, you'll get a paste instead of a sauce of finely chopped & crushed vegetables.

THIRD

Wash the chili pods and take out the seeds veins.

Then chop them as finely as you can.

🌶	🌶

FOURTH. First Mix

Add salt to taste; I added like 1 teaspoon.

Add half of the lemon juice, the oregano...

I could've added more oregano. Sometimes I do.

Finally, add a little olive oil, and the sugar.

Mix well and reserve this marinade while you fix the rest. (You could use just as it is at this point. Love it! But it's about to get better...😋)

FIFTH. Final Mix

These bunches of cilantro and parsley from which I removed half of the stems are clean and dry. I let them drain very well and at this point, I have had them in front of a fan, drying. The drier they are, the longer the sauce will last.

Chop the herbs finely, not excessively. There's no need.

In order to prevent the herbs from absorbing all the olive oil, add the white vinegar and the rest of the lemon juice first.

Now it's safe to add the olive oil. I also added black pepper at this point because I thought the sauce could use a little more spice 😁🔥

Now we can serve it and/or store it. I did both 😄

I filled my glass jar and and put the rest of the sauce in a glass container to serve at the table; I used one with a lid, so I could keep the leftovers in the refrigerator.