Have you ever made a chimichurri sauce? It's a great sauce for your steak that is popular throughout South America. This version uses fresh parsley, coriander, garlic, oil and vinegar and a little bit of chili pepper, though the variations on this theme are endless.
Prep time: 5 minutes for the sauce, 20 minutes for the steak
Difficulty: easy
Serves: a generous bowl enough for 4 people
Chimichurri Sauce and steak are a match made in heaven. Like tomato and basil. cheese and wine. They are just “meant to be”. Just one bite of steak garnsihed with chimichurri is all you need to understand why South Americans are mad for this stuff!
You can knock up a bowl of chimichurri in under 10 minutes and is best served fresh. You can make up your batch whilst your steak is resting.
When I'm chopping herbs for a recipe like this, the mezzaluna and bowl on the Papa Oki chopping board is perfect. It stops the herbs bruising, reduces the washing up and is fun to do. And it’s much better value than buying in the shops (if you can even find it).
This recipe is in two parts – for the chimichurri and the steak (if you need it!)
Ingredients
- Small bunch of coriander,
- Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small, sweet onion
- 1 green or red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- A pinch of salt
- 1.5kg good skirt steak (or whatever cut your prefer)
Preparation - chimichurri
You can prepare chimchurri using whatever knife you;re comfortable with but we prefer using our mezzaluna - it;s quicker and easier.
- Using the mezzaluna, finely chop the garlic, chilli and onion and add to a mixing bowl
- Again, using the mezzaluna, chop the fresh parsley and coriander and add to the same bowl
- Add the remaining ingredients
- Stir together until the ingredients are fully combined
- Allow to sit for a few minutes before serving
Preparation - the steak
Everyone has their own way of cooking steak so use whatever method you prefer, but this is a pretty fool-proof recipe for cooking skirt steak.
- Take the steak out of the fridge one hr before cooking so it comes up to room temperature.
- Get your barbecue nice and hot, or heat a large griddle pan until it’s nearly smoking.
- Season the bavette liberally with flaky sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper, and rub with oil on both sides.
- Place on the barbecue or in a griddle pan and cook for 4-5 mins each side or until cooked to your liking.
- Rest the meat for 7-10 minutes, then thinly slice.