Sunday 14 April 2013

Chimi-whatty?

Chimichurri.
Or Salsa verde.
You say tomato etc.

People often talk about what we can subtract from our diet to make it healther, lose weight et cetera.
Yet I think it is much more rewarding to talk about what we can add to make it more nutritious and tastier.
Rather than deprivation, reward.
It is a much nicer way to live, I say.

I am very, very partial to a sauce. I do love a bearnaise, or hollondaise, or any other naise on my grilled or poached protein or fried carbohydrate. Yet if we eat it daily we might find muffin tops appearing over our AG jeans, or, worse, a cholesterol problem, heart attack.

I always go berserk at a restaurant when I see a green sauce, I end up nomming it down. It makes everything flavourful and gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

What we must not forget is that the constituents, usually parsley, basil or coriander, are leafy green herbs. Highly nutritious. Similar greeny nutrition in a spoonful of chimichurri to half a plate of spinach.

I know which one I would rather (Yes, I really don't like unadorned spinach that much. So sue me.).

Add to it garlic, shallot, lemon, chilli, white wine vinegar and olive oil, and you have something quite amazing, in both a taste and nutritional capacity.

So, with steak on the menu,  I decided that a chimichurri was in order. This is a bit of a bastardised version. It still tastes good/

I used.
-1 shallot (Not the spring onion, the little oniony thing, just to be clear)
-1/2 bunch of parsley, stalks and leaves
-1/2 bunch of coriander, stalks and leaves
-1/2 tbs fresh lemon juice
-1 tbs extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed.
-1/2 tbs white wine vinegar
-1 clove of garlic, crushed
-tiny bit of crushed chilli (you don't want the heat to overpower all the other flavours, but a few flecks of red among the green is lovely)

whizz up in a food processor, I have one of those stick blender with a bowl and blade attachment and I love it sick.

This is how mine looked

The photo does not quite do the splendid greenness of the sauce justice. You will just have to make it yourself.

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