Chimichurri

When it comes to delicious and easy to make condiments, chimichurri is right up there with another favorite of mine–pesto. I guess I have a thing for garlicky, oily sauces with fresh herbs. Makes sense, right? How can you not?

A couple weeks ago we went out to eat at an Argentinian steakhouse that serves many of its dishes with chimichurri and I was reminded how much I love it. So, I set out to make some last week to accompany our flank steak.  The jury’s out on what authentic chimichurri is, but from my understanding (and as confirmed by the all-knowing Wikipedia), it’s fresh parsley, dried oregano, olive oil, and garlic. Paprika can be added (but I opted for chili powder) and so can lemon juice & vinegar (I opted for both). I do know a lot of places put cilantro in their chimichurri, but not me. Cilantro is offensive to my tastebuds, after all. But if you are one of those people who doesn’t think cilantro tastes like aluminum foil, you could definitely substitute some of the parsley in my recipe for cilantro.

One bite of his steak and Tom said, “Well, you nailed the chimichanga sauce!” He was right. Okay, maybe not about the name of the sauce, but about the flavor. This was some delicious stuff. We like garlic, so I made this quite garlicky (4 fat cloves), but of course reduce the amount if you don’t like too much raw garlic.

I seasoned the flank steak very simply with salt, pepper & a little oregano. I used aleppo chili powder in this recipe because I recently picked some up at the Spice House and wanted to use it, but any chili powder will do. We had this with a salad and some red quinoa.  If you couldn’t tell, we like our meat just barely past the point of dead. 🙂

Chimichurri
Serves 4
Printer Friendly Recipe

1/2 cup parsley leaves
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. aleppo (or any other) chili powder
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Break up the garlic in a food processor first, and then add the parsley, onion, oregano, chili powder, vinegar & lemon juice to the food processor. Put the mixture into a bowl.

Stir the olive oil into the bowl (more or less, to the consistency you desire) and adjust seasonings to taste.