Chimichurri

Total Time: 15 mins

Prep: 15 mins

Yield: 8-10 Servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 bunches of curley-leaf parsley, washed and dried (enough to make 1 cup loosely-packed)
1 head of garlic, pealed and minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white or red wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Use Italian parsley if available, and wash it well. Most importantly, be sure it is completely dry before you start chopping it. If possible wash and dry it a few hours before you use it and then wrap it in a towel to absorb the last few drops of water. If the stems are thin and subtle, don’t worry to much about including them. If the stems are thick and tough, you’ll want to pluck the leaves. Chop the parsley as finely as possible.

Since the garlic is raw, you want it as fresh as possible.

Old garlic will be yellow and sticky, often with a green shoot growing out, and it will smell strongly and slightly acrid. Fresh garlic will be white, plump, and while its scent will be unmistakably garlicky, it will still smell fresh. If you only have older garlic, remove the green stem and blanch it for a few minutes in boiling water to remove some of the acrid taste.

Chop the garlic as finely as possible then combine all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Chopped parsley, minced garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. Pour the olive oil and mix all the ingredients. After your olive oil has coated your mix, pour in the lemon juice and vinegar and mix again.

Based on how thick you prefer your Chimichurri to be, you can keep adding more olive oil. If you find that it’s too dry, add more olive oil bringing it closer to a dipping sauce. Mix again and serve as a topping to steaks, fish, chicken or even over crackers. You can store your Chimichurri in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.