This made me think, what other things could I do with the left over cilantro. The guy at the market suggested pesto, but I'd just made basil pesto a couple of days earlier so I thought I'd go with a chimichurri sauce instead. For those of you who don't like cilantro, chimichurri is usually made with flat leaf parsley, but I thought cilantro was a nice substitute.
On Sunday, I went to the farmers market in Thompkins Square Park. It's small, but you can rely on it in a pinch. I already had most of the ingredients for my chimichurri at home, so I just had to pick up an onion, a few shiitake mushrooms, and a protein. They only seemed to have cippolini onions at the market, but that was fine with me. I picked up a couple for about a buck.
For the protein, chimichurri is often served with beef, but I thought I'd go with seafood since there was a nice fish vendor in the market. I picked up a half a pound of bay scallops for $9 and was on my way. Bay scallops are more common to find at the farmers markets in NYC than sea scallops. They're smaller, but the flavor is very sweet.
Today I purchased:
At the farmers market:
2 cippolini onions
1/2 lb of bay scallops
1 bunch of cilantro
5 shiitake mushrooms
Supplementary ingredients I had at home:
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Garlic
Lime
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt
Pepper
Jasmine Rice
White wine
Recipe: Scallops in a Chimichurri Sauce Over Jasmin Rice (serves 2)
Ingredients
1 cup of jasmine rice
2 cups of cilantro, densely packed
5 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of chopped onion
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of lime juice
Kosher salt and red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 lb of bay scallops
5 shiitake mushroom caps sliced
1/4 cup of white wine
Start by making the chimichurri sauce since this needs to sit for at least 20 minutes. A lot of the recipes called for chopping the cilantro, garlic, and onion in a food processor first, then mixing it with the olive oil and the red wine vinegar afterwards, but since I only have a blender and a very tiny food prep chopper, I had to add the liquid to the blender in order for it to work. I thought that this still came out very well, but feel free to add the liquid ingredients afterwards in a bowl and just mix it.
So basically, I added all of the ingredients except the scallops, mushrooms, and rice into the blender and pulsed until it was just blended, and the cilantro, garlic, and onions were chopped.
Once this is at the consistency you want it, pour it into a bowl and set it aside.
Next, put the rice on. Just follow the package instructions for this. I always find that I need to add a little more water than the package calls for, but it will depend on your stove.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan on medium-high. Saute the mushrooms with a clove of chopped garlic. Add salt and pepper, and the 1/4 cup of white wine. Cook until the mushrooms are soft and the wine has cooked off. Add to the rice when it is finished cooking.
Wash the scallops and pat them dry, then sprinkle them with kosher salt and pepper. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan. Sautee scallops over medium-high heat for about 2 or 3 minutes until they are just lightly golden brown on all sides. Then remove the scallops from the pan.
To assemble the dish I just placed the rice in the center of the plate, placed 5 or 6 scallops on top, then drizzled the chimichurri sauce on top.
I mixed everything together before eating so the sauce was well incorporated throughout the dish. This was a very easy and tasty meal to make with left over herbs and a couple of other key ingredients. Feel free to experiment with your favorite herb.
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