We’ve written about the legendary Argentinian Asado before on this website and in that
Chimichurri sauce
article we talked briefly about the fabulous sauce that is used to complement the beef and other meat served on those occasions. Chimichurri recipes can be of a slightly personal nature – many chefs alter the proportions of the main ingredients to suit their own taste but it’s best described as a type of herby, garlic sauce with a subtle sour flavour.
The origins of the unusual name are a bit unclear but may relate to corruptions of English words such as ‘Jimmy Curry’ or ‘give me curry’. Another possibility is a derivation from a Basque word, ‘tximitxurry‘ which means something like ‘a mixture of several things‘.
Although we tend to regard Chimichurri as an Argentinian sauce, it’s also served in several other South and Central American countries.
To make it, this is what you need:
- 1 bunch of fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp of fresh oregano leaves
- 4 – 5 cloves of garlic
- 120 ml olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- a pinch of salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp chopped onion
Now just follow the instructions:
- Finely chop the garlic and the onion, ideally in a food processor.
- Add all the herbs you have (parley, oregano) and continue to finely chop.
- Place the mixture into a medium-sized bowl and add all the other ingredients apart from the salt and pepper. Bled it all together with a wooden spoon.
- Now add the salt and pepper and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.
There are loads of variations of Chimichurri recipes available and as we stated above, feel free add and remove ingredients and change the proportions as you wish. With Chimichurri it’s all about experimenting to suit your taste.
Other possible ingredients include white vinegar (instead of red), paprika and thyme. If you want to make a ‘red’ sauce, tomatoes can be used to colour the mixture.