Charred scallion and dill multi-purpose marinade and sauce

The Story

There’s something truly seductive about the flavor of charred vegetables. The smell can literally lure me off the street and into a restaurant, roasting eggplant on a wood-fired stove or burning onions on the grill to devour the spoils of their labor. Even though it may smoke up your kitchen, you can char whatever you want at home. All you need is a big, sturdy skillet and the willpower to let your tomatoes, onions, or whatever your heart’s desire turn a deep black color before you remove them from the pan.

This recipe gets its smoky flavor from charred scallions and garlic cloves. Combined with dill, mustard, honey, and lemon, it makes a zingy marinade perfect to pour over a piece of salmon, chicken, steak, or really any protein you can think of. You can use it as a sauce as-is, or add Greek yogurt (or any other creamy dairy or non-dairy alternative like sour cream or mayo) and a bit of extra olive oil to smooth out the flavor. Serve alongside my pan-roasted spiced chicken thighs, dotted over a fried egg (like in my brown rice bowl with vegetables and fried egg), or even sub out the tartar sauce next to some crab cakes.

Difficulty: 1 on a scale of 1-5

Active time to prepare: 20 minutes

Total time to prepare: 20 minutes

Serves: 10

The Ingredients

For the charred scallion and dill marinade:

1 small bunch scallions/115 g

4 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp./28 g + 1/4 cup/56 g olive oil

3 cups/30 g dill (you can use the stems as long as they’re not woody or leathery)

1 Tbsp./30 g dijon mustard

1 Tbsp./30 g honey

1 Tbsp./15 g lemon juice

2 Tbsp./27 g water

For the charred scallion and dill sauce:

1/2 cup/120 g unsweetened Greek yogurt (you could substitute with creme fraiche, sour cream, or mayo)

1 Tbsp./14 g olive oil

The Recipe

For the charred scallion and dill marinade:

1. Heat 2 Tbsp./28 g of the olive oil in a large sauté pan.

2. When the oil starts to smoke, add the scallions and garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the aromatics on all sides until they’re dark brown. Remove from the pan and let cook on a cutting board. Once cooled, roughly chop the scallions.

3. In a food processor, add the whole garlic cloves, chopped scallions, dill, mustard, honey, lemon juice, and water.

4. Pulse until it’s the consistency of pesto.

For the charred scallion and dill sauce:

1. Take out half of the marinade mixture from the previous steps.

2. To the other half of the marinade, add the Greek yogurt and mix. Top with olive oil.

DO AHEAD: This all comes together quickly, so there isn’t any part of the recipe you would need to do ahead to cut down on the prep time.

LEFTOVERS: Store the marinade and/or sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The marinade can be frozen for up to 2 months.