Chimichurri Sauce

By deedavis

From gaucho campfires to society weddings, you can
always find chimichurri in Argentina, The basics-olive
oil, parsley, and oregano-never vary but the rest
is up to the ingenuity of the chef and local tradition.
Chimichurri changes from town to town. Sometimes I
worry that since the world has discovered it, it willget
"gourmet-ized" until it's unrecognizable. At a Latin-
American-themed James Beard Award evening in New
YorkCity, I couldn't believe what some of the chefs had
done with it: mango, strawberries, mint! Iwas so sad,
I wanted to crawl inside my oven. Invention is fine, but
you have to stay true to the original idea. My variation
on the theme is fresh herbs instead of dried, which is
what the gauchos use. I Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• FOR THE SALMUERA
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• 1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1 cup fresh oregano leaves
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• V4cup red wine vinegar
• V2cup extra virgin olive 011

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

To make the salmuera, bring the water to a boil in
a small saucepan. Add the salt and stir until it dissolves.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Mince the garlic very fine and put in a medium
bowl. Mince the parsley and oregano and add to the
garlic, along with the red pepper flakes. Whisk in the
red wine vinegar and then the olive oil. Whisk in the
salmuera. Transfer to a jcfrwith a tight-fitting lid, and
keep in the refrigerator. Chimichurri is best prepared
at least 1 day in advance, so that the flavors have a
chance to blend. The chimichurri can be kept refrigerated for up to 2 to 3 weeks.