When my fellow food blogger over at Cooking on the Weekends announced a culinary contest with fabulous prizes awarded just by making one of her delicious recipes, I knew this was a no brainer.  The only hard part was choosing which delectable dish to make.

I chose the Cilantro Chimichurri sauce because I think my beloved cilantro was looking for a new recipe to go in besides guacamole.  And while I like chimichurri, I feel like the parsley that's usually used is a touch too bitter for me, so I loved the cilantro substitution which rounded out the flavor nicely, though certainly didn't dull it any.  There's still lots of life in this sauce!

While chimuchurri hails from Argentina and is usually found as a partner to their range of big, grilled meats, I thought this softer cilantro sauce was a nice companion to fish.  I tried it on sole as Valentina recommended, and really loved how it "beefed" up the mild fish.

I even threw some of the cilantro chimichurri sauce on cauliflower and roasted it in the oven for a nice side full of flavor and crunch. 

It's a really versatile sauce, and thanks to Valentina for sharing! 

Cilantro Chimichurri

Slightly adapted  From Cooking on the Weekends

Makes 1 Cup

Ingredients

• 2 cups (about 2 bunches) packed cilantro, washed and dried
• 3 medium-sized garlic cloves, peeled, with roots and stems removed
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 3/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Add garlic cloves to a food processor until finely minced. 
2. Remove any thick or long stems from the cilantro, and place in food processor with garlic. Blend until it's all finely chopped.
3. Pour in the vinegar, along with the lemon juice, cumin, paprika, crushed red pepper and salt.
4. Once the ingredients have come together, slowly pour in the olive oil and blend until smooth.