Easy, healthy home cooking: Try this recipe for chimichurri sauce

Green, flavorful and a simple way to brighten up a meal, chimichurri is a great recipe to level up your home cooking, according to cookbook author Amanda Haas.

This chimichurri recipe, a favorite in her family, calls for parsley, cilantro, garlic, mustard, lime, capers, pepper and sweetener. It’s healthy and pairs well with grilled skirt steak or cauliflower, and it can be used to add flavor to everyday meals like sandwiches or breakfast scrambles too.

“I was thrilled that my kids would literally drink this sauce out of a pitcher, if I let them,” Haas writes. “I’ve now been making so much of it for so long, everyone started calling it ‘Haas Sauce.’”

Chimichurri

Makes 1¼ cups

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 cloves garlic

2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed

2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, loosely packed

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons capers, rinsed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor or blender, combine the lime juice, mustard and garlic. Pulse a few times to break up the garlic. Add the parsley and cilantro and pulse until evenly chopped. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the olive oil and pulse until a thick sauce forms. For a thinner sauce, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons of water. Fold in the capers.

Taste, adding salt, a few grindings of pepper, and the honey, if desired.

To store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

 — Courtesy Amanda Haas, “Homemade Simple: Effortless Dishes for a Busy Life” (Cameron + Company, $29)