Chimichurri Paneer & Roasted Vegetables

I adore the herbaceous, zingy quality of chimichurri. This Argentinian/Uruguayan condiment is traditionally served on steak but as a life-long vegetarian, I’ve found plenty of other uses. When making a traditional chimichurri, finely chopped parsley, either fresh/dried oregano, finely chopped garlic, salt and crushed red pepper are mixed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. The technique creates a jewel-like suspension of herbs within olive oil which has such a different quality compared to a blended green chutney that you encounter in Indian food.

Parsley leaves are much sturdier than other herbs so finely chopping it up doesn’t seem to bruise the leaves as much. The same robust quality of the herb also means that it takes time to painstakingly remove the leaves as part of preparing the sauce. For this reason, these days I make chimichurri the night before I want to use it.

The recipe I reference is the one from Cafe Delites. Like she says in the introduction to the recipe, it is possible to eyeball the recipe. Candidly, the more I make this sauce, the more I find myself measuring less and adjusting the flavor by feel and taste. Other tweaks to her recipe that I sometimes make include using fresh oregano (which I grow) and crushed red pepper since I don’t usually remember to buy a fresh red pepper. It’s also worth noting that if you want something ready-made, both Good Eggs and Trader Joes carry chimichurri.

For a weeknight meal, I love drizzling chimichurri on roasted potatoes, red onion and bell pepper with some slices of paneer for protein. My husband enjoys the combination so much that he refuses to talk to me while he eats his dinner. I adapted J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s “Best Crispy Roast Potatoes” recipe to use less cookware, require less active time and accommodate baby potatoes. Note: While all the steps & details make the original version THE BEST, this simplified version is still AMAZING and I’m willing to make sacrifices for less dishes and the usage of cute little potatoes.

Leftover chimichurri can also be swirled into a yogurt bowl, lentil salad or grilled cheese.

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Chimichurri Paneer & Roasted Vegetables

Recipe by Preeyanka

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

I use the Cafe Delites chimichurri recipe and an adapted/simplified version of “The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes” by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.

To make this vegan, swap the cheese for some cooked legumes such as chickpeas or navy beans. Roasting chickpeas alongside the vegetables would be lovely.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb Baby Gold potatoes or other baby potatoes, washed and sliced into halves

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 2 Tbs salt plus extra for seasoning

• 4 Tbs Olive Oil

• 8 oz paneer sliced into 1/3 in thick slabs (I like 1 in by 3 in rectangles)

• 1 1/2 red onion (you can also use 2 onions)

• 2 bell peppers

• 3/4 cup chimichurri (Cafe Delites’ recipe will require 1 bunch parsley, red wine vinegar, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, 1 red chili, and oregano)

• Pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees if you have a convection oven or 450 degrees otherwise.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 2 Tbs salt and 1/2 tsp baking powder to it. Add potatoes to the pot and boil for 9 minutes or until you can stick a fork into the center of a potato with minimal resistance. Turn off the stove, drain potatoes and return the potatoes to the pot to cool down for 2 minutes.
• Add 3 Tbs of olive oil to the pot. Shake the potatoes with the olive oil in the pot for about 3-4 minutes until the potatoes have broken down on the edges a little bit. They should look rough and soft on the outside. This is what makes the potatoes crispy. Transfer the potatoes to one side of a baking sheet. It’s okay if there is leftover oil in the pot.
• Add onions and bell peppers to the pot. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil if necessary and toss to lightly coat. Add onions and bell peppers to the other side of the baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper
• Bake everything for 20 minutes untouched. With a metal spatula, gently turn all the vegetables and then bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
• Towards the end of the second round of bake, add a little oil to a cast iron pan over medium heat. When hot, fry the paneer slabs until you see large reddish-brown spots on each side. It should take ~1.5 minutes on each side.
• Assemble each plate with a generous serving of vegetables and 2-3 slabs paneer. Drizzle everything with chimichurri sauce and serve hot. Bon appetit!

Notes

• As you might guess, this is more of a non-recipe than a recipe but it’s perfect for weeknight meals. Feel free to swap out proteins (e.g. feta for paneer), change around vegetables and otherwise adapt to your preferences.