I remember having a discussion with Margaret when she was just starting to write her first book, Eat Naked about what “eating naked” means. Many of you may not know this, but initially she saw this concept as being sauce-free. Naked as naked can be.
I balked!
“But sauces are what make meals unique and flavorful. Sauces distinguish a dish. They provide a sense of region and they are what makes it crave-able,” I said.
Luckily, I convinced her and now we have two kids who love sauces on their food, too.
The Latin Chimichurri sauce is one of my favorites. As we move closer to the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ve been mulling over what kind of sauce I want with my meal and while it’s not a traditional holiday sauce, I thought….why not?
And thus, the Cranberry Chimichurri sauce was born. Don’t kid yourself into thinking this is only a holiday sauce. As I tell Margaret about redheads, once you’ve tried this, there’s no going back.
Note that I use a zero calorie, zero glycemic sweetener made with monk fruit extract and erythritol. While I don’t recommend any sweetener in excess, I find this one to hit all the right notes. It doesn’t taste medicinal like stevia. You can use less, get a similar effect to sugar but without all the negative effects like bacteria (tooth decay), weight-gain, and blood sugar spikes. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Did I mention that there’s no cooking involved?
Ingredients:
- 200g of cranberries (about 2 cups)
- 3/4 cup parsley (I like Italian parsley), thick stems removed
- 1/2 cup cilantro, thick stems removed
- 1 tablespoon monk fruit sweetener (buy here)
- 2 sweet peppers (these are the little ones that come in a few different colors. I chose orange and red)
- 1 shallot (about the size of a tablespoon), peeled
- 2 small garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- juice and zest of 1 lime
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
Place the parsley, cilantro, peppers, shallot, garlic, vinegar, lime, salt and sweetener into a food processor. Pulse until minced well.
Add the cranberries and pulse lightly until you have small chunks. Using a spatula, pour into a large container.
Stir in the red pepper flakes and olive oil. Taste. Add more salt if desired. Store, covered, in refrigerator for up to 1 week (if it lasts that long!)
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Make your Thanksgiving extra crave-able with this cranberry chimichurri sauce.” quote=”Make your Thanksgiving extra crave-able with this cranberry chimichurri sauce.”]
