Chimichurri Sauce
We first learned about Chimichurri sauce while studying for a Girl Scout Thinking Day food activity. Our family was in charge of making a bite sized food from Argentina. The main ingredients of Chimichurri sauce are garlic, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, vinegar and chili. We could use our garden fresh parsley and cilantro in the sauce and it sounded like something we would like to use while grilling tofu or steak on the barbecue. We made flank steak on a barbecue which in Argentina is called Asada and served little pieces of steak along with sauce at our booth. We had a big crowd of girl scouts around our booth all day long and afterwards received calls for the recipe of our troop Chimichurri sauce.
The name Chimichurri is unusual. It doesn’t sound like a word spoken in Argentina. The history of the sauce and the origin of the word go back to the 19th century when an Irish soldier, Jimmy McCurry, was traveling with indigenous troops to fight for the independence of Argentina from Spain. Jimmy created the sauce but his name was hard to pronounce. They called the sauce “Jimmy’s sauce” and eventually that name turned into Chimichurri sauce.
We found that all the dry ingredients needed for Chimichurri were in our Spicy Italian Blend and we created a recipe for our own signature Island Salts Chimichurri sauce that we make every week during the summer months to sample at our farmers market booth. After all these years from 2nd grade girl scouts to our college years, the Chimichurri sauce still tastes great and we never tire of using it. During the 19th century, immigrants from Spain, Italy and even Japan came to Argentina; the blend of ingredients in our Chimichurri sauce reflect ingredients from their cultures. Cayenne pepper represents Spanish cuisine (it went around the world from the Andes where it is said to be discovered by Columbus, back to Spain and the back to Argentina for this sauce), red wine vinegar, garlic, parsley and cilantro represent Italy and soy sauce or tamari represent Japan. It is interesting to watch faces as people try Chimichurri sauce for the first time; they instantly fall in love with a new flavor fusion. If someone doesn’t like cilantro, ask them to try a little sample and they may be surprised to find that they love the taste of Chimichurri. You can also make the recipe without cilantro and substitute parsley and basil.
It is best to make the Chimichurri two hours ahead of time so that all the flavors can meld. We make it in our food processor and let it sit in the work bowl for two hours and then taste test to see if more of one ingredient is needed. Depending on the time of year, there will be a bit of sauce fine tuning after two hours. In rare cases in late summer, we add a touch of agave nectar or maple syrup to even out the astringency of the leafy herbs.
The amazing thing about using this recipe is that you will never have a brownish mass of dead cilantro in your refrigerator ever again. As soon as I harvest or purchase cilantro, I wash it, let it towel dry and cut off only a 1/2” of the stem. I tuck all of the rest of the stem and leaves into the food processor and make my Chimichurri sauce. The sauce easily keeps in the refrigerator two weeks but it won’t last that long because you will use it for everything. You may substitute Chimichurri sauce in any recipe that calls for fresh cilantro and the results will make you happy; in Thai food, Mexican food, salad dressings, you name it, Chimichurri will give the taste of fresh cilantro will the convenience of a premade sauce and the added benefit of never having to waste old cilantro again.
Recipe
Fresh bunch of cilantro, 4 oz, washed, spun and put on a clean towel to air dry
Fresh bunch of parsley, 2 oz washed, spun and put on a clean towel to air dry
3 peeled garlic cloves, 1/4 ounce or more if you really like garlic
1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 TBSP soy sauce or tamari
2 tsp Island Salts Spicy Italian Blend
Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until achieving a pesto consistency
Let sauce stand in food processor bowl for two hours and then taste test. For a thinner sauce, pour the Chimichurri into a blender and process until the sauce has no bits of herbs left and has changed to an emerald green color.
Store in glass jars in the refrigerator for two weeks. If you make a bulk batch of sauce you can add olive oil to the top of the sauce and it will form a solid air barrier in the jar once it is cooled in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the sauce.