I love Chimichurri. Having a friend from Argentina who introduced it to me a few years ago it has become a regular thing at my table and
I head off to the store and pick up the ingredient I do not have at home, Italian Parsley.
Then I head back home and start chopping the parsley and I think to myself, this stuff is strong. Well, I certainly don’t remember parsley smelling like this. I make the other ingredients and mix everything so they marry.
In comes the daughter. Her family is here for dinner and excited I am making Chimichurri.
“Mom, I love that you put cilantro in the Chimichurri!”
“Ummm no I didn’t”, as I shot her a dirty look for not recognizing the correct ingredients. “I used Italian Parsley!”
The disagreement goes on for a while and my daughter gives up trying to convince me I used Cilantro.
Validation
We all sit down at the table. There is a beautiful salad, grilled steak, white corn on the cob and of course the Chimichurri.
I dig into the chimichurri and I notice my daughter eyeing me. I taste it. CILANTRO! My daughter was completely validated!
I was confused. Should I be disappointed that I grabbed cilantro instead of parsley? How could I be? It was so delicious. From what I understand though REAL Chimichurri has no cilantro. That has been a more recent ingredient as a flavor booster and according to my friend from Argentina and NOT authentic.
But I loved it so here is what I did.
- 2 cups of Cilantro finely chopped and packed when measuring.
- 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil – get the better quality.
- 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Some people use red wine vinegar. I like white.
- 4-5 garlic cloves diced
- Hot Red Peppers finely diced to taste. Some people use the dried ones which will work fine.
- Sea Salt and Pepper to taste.
Mix it all together in a glass bowl and let it chill for a couple of hours. I have used it in an hour but the longer it sits the more the flavors marry.
Chimichurri is wonderful because you can use it on everything from eggs to steak or salad. It has layers of flavor that will compliment any protein or veggies.
Many people do not like cilantro so you can always add less or use only the traditional parsley.
My daughter cut the corn off the cobb added it to her salad and then ate the steak with the salad! Genius!
Click here for my recipe for my Summer Arugula Salad and Pickled Onions. They are a hit!
