Chimichurri, it's fun to say.

I was recently visiting my daughter in Baton Rouge. I offered to make dinner for her and several of her housemates. Ryan asked if he could make anything to add to the meal, he mentioned chimichurri...I had heard the name but wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was. Once I caught the drift that it was a sauce with garlic I acquiesced, it would make a fine complement to the dinner I had planned of pork chops, fresh lima bean succotash and roasted potatoes. In fact it was such a hit, most of the diners put it on EVERYTHING !!

Chimichurri could be called South American pesto...it's originally from Argentina and was made to be served with beef. In looking at the recipes, there is a LOT of variation. All recipes have fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil and vinegar, those are really the only common ingredients I could see. I saw recipes with fresh cilantro, fresh oregano, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, lemon juice, shallots, red onions, hot peppers, red pepper flakes, cumin, paprika etc... It can be used as a marinade or a sauce.
Bob has discovered that it makes cottage cheese (which I hate) into a gourmet meal ;-)

I decided to go with fresh Italian parsley, fresh cilantro, red onion, garlic, red wine vinegar, fresh oregano, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and olive oil. I am not a fan of very hot food so I went very light on the red pepper flakes.

Some recipes want you to finely chop all the ingredients by hand, other have you use the food processor, I think Ryan used the blender. He also said he quadrupled the amount of garlic, which I did in this recipe.

Laurie's Chimichurri



Ingredients
1/2 + cup packed fresh Italian parsley
1/2 + cup packed fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
10-12 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
juice 1 lemon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1) Peel the garlic and chop in food processor.
2) Wash, spin and stem the parsley, cilantro, oregano and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times but don't over do it.

3) Add the chopped red onion, lemon juice, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Pulse again to combine.

4) You can add some of the olive oil, maybe 1/4 cup to help combine the other ingredients, also add the salt and pepper.

5) Remove from the chimichurri from the food processor and add the remaining oil. Store in a jar in the fridge and watch it disappear in a matter of days ;-)

6) Use to marinate your favorite beef, I used flank steak. And serve as a sauce !!