For the third or fourth time, I auctioned off a gourmet vegetarian meal for four as part of a fundraiser for a local synagogue. This year I offered two separate meals to bring in double the money. I cooked one of the meals last week, and the second will be next week.

The meal included a stuffed pumpkin full of gruyere, heavy cream and toasted baguette rounds; roasted radishes finished with a kalamata olive dressing; and a carrot and thyme soup. Everything was locally grown or produced, including the sourdough loaf my husband baked.

But it was this mint and cilantro sauce that I drizzled on top of roasted-to-the-point-of-caramelized sweet potatoes and chickpeas that I keep coming back to. I found it in the “Fields of Greens: New Vegetarian Recipes from the Celebrated Restaurant” by Annie Somerville. The cookbook is based on recipes from the famous Greens restaurant in San Francisco where Deborah Madison, the grand doyenne of vegetarian cookbooks, got her start.

Yes, I acknowledge I have turned off about half my readership by writing about cilantro, because people love it or hate it. Cilantro is the leaf of the coriander plant and tastes nothing like the seeds. Its fresh flavor stands up to spicy, smokey flavors, from Mexican salsa to Chinese peanut butter noodles. Coriander seeds, toasted and ground, is essential in Indian curries and Mexican dishes.

I keep my green herbs in water-filled glasses on my kitchen counter, rather than in my fridge. I think of the herbs’ soft green leaves as flowers, and the glass jars as vases in my kitchen.

When I taste the cilantro sauce it reminds me of the perfect accompaniment to Indian food, but it is fantastic with roasted vegetables, like squash, sweet potatoes or eggplant.

Ingredients:

½ cup plain yogurt

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½ small green pepper, coarsely chopped, about ½ a cup

1 or 2 green jalapeno peppers or serranochiles, seeded

1 scallion, white and green parts, coarsely chopped (I used chives)

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Kosher salt

1 packed cup cilantro sprigs with short stems

1 packed cup fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Puree the yogurt, green pepper, chiles, scallions, and ginger in a blender. Add a pinch of salt, the cilantro, and the mint and puree until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Tip: Add a pinch or two of sugar if the flavors need to be balanced.

Makes about 1 cup.

Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.