When we were much younger my father used to take us frequently to an Argentinian restaurant in Miami, and I think it is here that I learned to love beef. I also learned to love the piquant sauce they put on their meat called Chimichurri. It is a tangy sauce of parsley, garlic, red chili pepper, vinegar and a little olive oil which is much greater than the sum of its parts. In our house we spread it on everything, from fish to beef to bread; it also makes a great pasta sauce should you have some of it left over from a grill session.

This really comes out better if it’s made by hand, I think it has to do with the mouth feel of the rougher, less uniformly chopped parsley, that is why I chose this method for the post; however, I admit I am lazy and most times I just make it in the food processor. That said it is not hard to chop the parsley by hand, it just requires patience and a little practice. More importantly, the lack of a food processor should not be an excuse for not making this dish. If you are going to use the food processor, remove the parsley, garlic and pepers from the processor before adding the liquid and seasoning to taste. Either way it will turn out delicious!

Ingredients:
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
3 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper (you can use more or less depending on your heat tolerance)
1 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin works best)
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Chop the parsley very finely, crush and mince the garlic and finely chop the chili. If you are using a food processor you would add the chili and garlic first and whiz up, then add the parsley and pulse it 15-20 times, or until the parsley is at the consistency you see in the picture or finer.

Place the herb mixture in a bowl and add the vinegar, oil and salt. Taste your sauce and adjust the quantities of vinegar, oil and salt until you reach your desired flavor. Sometimes you will need more vinegar or olive oil, it all depends on the potency of your vinegar, the strength of your parsley and how tangy you like your chimichurri. The finished product should be a very thick sauce as pictured above.