Meadow Garlic and Cilantro “Chimichurri”

Background: The first time I tried this–decades ago–was also the first time I made it. I worked in university catering and the executive chef put a recipe in front of me for a sauce to accompany the steak dish for a dinner that night. I had never heard of chimichurri, so I had no idea how it should look or what it should taste like. I followed the recipe faithfully and then didn’t make it again for a while. Later in life, I tried making it with cilantro and rediscovered the magic of this sauce. It’s both a marinade and a kind of relish or chutney. My current version also follows The Move for All Salad Dressings and isn’t far off from some of the mods in Several Quick Marinades in One. However, I’ve now developed a hyperlocavore version that makes use of abundant wild plants in my area and local flavors from my garden. It’s not a chimichurri anymore. That’s why it’s in quotes. But it’s inspired by chimichurri so…I don’t know….you tell me what to call it.

1. Save up the packets of red pepper flakes from takeout pizza until you have a bunch of them.
2. Pick some Meadow Garlic (aka Wild Onion) when it’s blooming.
3. Grab a head of cilantro.
4. Grab some good olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar.
6. Put the Meadow Garlic in a food processor with enough oil to make the blades turn and chop up the whites, greens, and bulbs of the garlic.
7. While spinning, add red wine vinegar to the food processor in a ratio of 1 to 3 with the oil (so 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil).
8. Add the cilantro and pulse.
9. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt to taste.
10. Store in the fridge for a few days or freeze.

Why It Works

1. This is why you always say yes to the pepper flakes at the pizza parlor.
2. If you don’t have meadow garlic, try green onions and your favorite preparation of garlic. Pickled garlic works well. Just go easier on the vinegar later.
3. You can use the whole plant, in my opinion. If you want a more refined version, don’t use the stems and add it at the same time as the onions.
4. Good means not counterfeit first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar. I’m not super picky about this, but Roland is a good brand for the money.
6. The different parts of the wild onion will correspond to different elements of a more traditional chimichurri: flower buds will stand in for garlic, the greens will help with that chimichurri color and the whites will represent the shallots.
7. You can adjust the acidity to your taste.
8. I add the cilantro later than the onions for two reasons: 1) sometimes I want to pull out some onion oil and just use that as another condiment; 2) I like to vary the texture so that it’s not all uniform.
9. The rest is just a matter of your taste, the amount of heat you want, and your salt palate.
10. When you pull it out of the freezer, you might have to thaw it 24 hours before using it and then give it another quick round in the food processor.

Mods:

1. Use citrus instead of red wine vinegar.
2. Swap the more authentic parsley back in there for the more controversial cilantro.
3. Make an actual authentic chimichurri.
4. Make this move but call it something less problematic like “Meadow Garlic and Cilantro Red Wine Pepper Marinade That’s Also a Relish Chutney Condiment Thing.”