On the Menu: Roasted Vegetables with Cimichurri Sauce

It's a joke, isn't it, that Argentina has the most delicious pesto-like sauce? Of course, this sauce is suppose to go on top of meat, but we opted to enjoy this refreshing sauce on top of roasted vegetables.

Since there's still snow on the ground, we had to roast our vegetables in the oven - but if you live in a warmer climate, you certainly could roast them on the grill.

I'm curious to see how cimichurri enhances meats. Maybe one of these days I'll use it as a marinade or as a seasoning sauce, like I'm supposed to.

Roasted Vegetables with Chimicurri Sauce (original recipe here)
Serves 3-4 (as a main dish) 

For the roasted vegetables:
2 peppers (red, yellow, or orange - your choice)
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
8 oz mushrooms
8 oz cherry tomatoes
1/2 lb asparagus
any other vegetables you'd like!
up to 1/4 cup olive oil (depending on the amount of vegetables you are roasting)
salt and pepper, to taste

For the chimichurri:
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups parsley leaves
1/4 cup oregano
2 tbs red wine vinegar
salt, to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare the vegetables for roasting, except for the cherry tomatoes. Pour olive oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat vegetables well with the olive oil. Put in oven. Set timer for 10 minutes.
2. In the meantime, prepare the chimichurri. Add garlic, parsley, oregano, and red wine vinegar into a food processor and process until everything is finely chopped. Add the salt and olive oil and process again. Pour the chimichurri into a bowl.
3. Check on the vegetables and if they are almost finished, add the cherry tomatoes. Roast for another 5-8 minutes.
4. Remove the vegetables from the oven and toss well with the chimichurri.