You are here: Home / Archives for chimichurri recipe

Skirt steak with chimichurri and green rice +12 cookout recipes

June 29, 2012 by · 7 Comments
When it comes to outdoor barbecues, we don’t do the traditional stuff over the summer holidays. For a few reasons. One is that grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken breasts are every day fare for us. And, in my family we have a lot of summer birthdays which lends itself to special occasions. I mean, for my birthday, I want more than a grilled hot dog and some chips, right? Plus, we usually have time off therefore more time to cook and prepare something decent.
This has become one of our favorites for summertime grilling. With a food processor, this is very easy to make. I have found two downsides or disadvantages to cooking this recipe. One is that it requires skirt steak, which means either a trip to the butcher or a special order at your grocery store. Skirt steak is not sold in regular grocery store meat departments. The second is that the meat should marinade for at least several hours, if not all day or overnight. So this isn’t a recipe that you can decide you want to make at 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. You have to plan. But other than that, I love it and could eat it all the time. It’s an adaptation from an Emeril recipe. 

Chimichurri is an Argentinian word, and the finished product is almost like a pesto. It goes well with many things, this is our favorite. I don’t care for fish, but I know my hubby has eaten it on fish (sorry, I don’t remember what kind!) and enjoyed it. Skirt steak is also known as “fajita steak.” 

Your shopping list:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

2/3 cup sherry wine vinegar, we have used red wine vinegar

 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

 

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

 

4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves

 

3 tablespoons minced garlic

 

2 tablespoons minced shallots

 

3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

 

2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

 

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

 

1 skirt steak-around 2 lbs

Ok, another downside is that it can get kinda spendy, if you have to buy all fresh herbs. In the summer we use stuff from our garden, but when we have to purchase everything…….yikes! And, 2lbs of skirt steak isn’t that much, will feed 4-6 people. But it cooks down.

Basically you just mix all that stuff together, then divide it in half. Half of it, we place in a zippered plastic bag with the meat. It has to marinate 4-6 hours minimum. We’ve done it overnight too. The other half, we use to make the green rice. We use 1/3 cup of the chimichurri sauce for every 1 cup of cooked rice.  That part is easy–you just cook the rice and mix it with the sauce and it is yummy. We have thrown in grilled cherry tomatoes too.

Once the steak has finished marinating, remove it from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Brush the excess chimichurri sauce off the steak and set the steak over the hot grill. Cook for 6 minutes on the first side. Rotate the steak 45 degrees, and cook another 6 minutes. Turn the steak over and continue to cook until the steak is done, about 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare. Once cooked, lay the steak on a clean cutting board, and allow it to rest for 5 to 7 minutes before slicing across the grain into 2-inch wide strips. Serve with crusty bread and the reserved chimichurri sauce. Those are Emeril’s grilling instructions. You can find many different versions of this online–some use more garlic, less garlic, more or less vinegar, more red pepper, less red pepper, red chile oil instead and so on. Play with until you find a combination that you adore.

Photo courtesy of Bon Appetit.


 

Filed Under: Contests & Giveaways, Food & Recipes Tagged With: