Day 213 -- My Little Herb Garden -- Italian Parsley

I've come to appreciate the taste of Italian parsley and since I've planted it in my herb garden, I've used it to top a lot of dishes.  But I found this recipe for Chimichurri which is an Argentinian pesto-like sauce made with both cilantro and Italian parsley.

Although it usually is used as a sauce for meat, it also tastes good with pasta or bread.  It does have a fair bit of olive oil in it, but this recipe makes 2/3 cup and that can go a long way over pasta or as a spread for bruschetta.  The recipe is from the Herbivoracious blog which is a wonderful vegetarian and vegan resource!

Chimichurri
Makes 2/3 cup

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped fine or pressed
1 cup well-rinsed parsley leaves, lightly packed
1 cup well-rinsed cilantro leaves, lightly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/4 cup red onion, minced (or add to food processor before herbs)
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed

In a small food processor, combine the olive oil and garlic and run until the garlic is well distributed. If you don’t feel like mincing the onion by hand, you can add it in chunks now, but it won’t look as nice. If you don’t have a small food processor, you might need to make a double batch as a full size machine probably won’t work well on this small quantity.
Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, pepper and vinegar and process until minced but with still a bit of texture left in the leaves.
Remove from the food processor and mix in the onions and capers.
Let rest at least 30 minutes, then taste and adjust salt, pepper and vinegar as needed.