Chimichurri Sauce with Baked Chicken

Chutneys were ubiquitous during my childhood. There were so many variations to the basic formula. Either coconut-based chutneys with toasted lentils, or tomato-based chutneys with ginger and red chilies, or purely herb-based chutneys of which my favorite was this cilantro-mint-chutney with tamarind and green chilies... the possibilities were endless. Despite almost-same ingredients, I am quite amazed at how many different flavorful chutneys came about in my mom's kitchen.

Anyway, as a result of this chutney-immersion, I've always been partial to coming up with sauces, dressing, dips, not to mention chutneys.

This South American-inspired Chimichurri sauce is so much like my favorite "green chutney" - full of fresh green ingredients.

Served with Dosai or Adai or Dokla or even Idlee, the chimichurri sauce adds pep and bite to bland dishes, especially when I get generous with Serrano peppers. The spring onions and oregano came from my garden, plus some cilantro and parsley and green chilies is all it takes to make this sauce, roughly in the proportion the picture indicates.

Almond-meal-Flax-meal encrusted marinated chicken breast tenders served with Chimichurri sauce and a large greek salad turned out to be a sumptuous weekend dinner.

Of course, most of the meat dishes here are much relished by the rest of the family while I top my roasted vegetables with the same sauces and dips and chutneys.

A recent favorite combination of roast vegetables for me is: red cabbage wedges, asparagus, broccoli stems (no florets), baby bella mushrooms, red onions and eggplant. Sounds like an odd combination, but, as I lay them out in a single layer on the roasting pan-- separate, not tossed together, I can almost taste the individual flavors as they come out of the oven in batches.

Ingredients
For the Chimichurri sauce:
a large bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
cilantro
green chilies
scallions
oregano
olive oil
salt to taste, a splash of lemon juice or red wine vingar

Grind the ingredients together into smooth sauce, adding olive oil a little at a time.

I don't have exact measurements for the ingredients, but the rough proportion of mostly parsley and just a little bit of oregano with enough cilantro and scallions works for me.