Okay, so you’ve found a great Chimichurri recipe or you’ve been given one by a friend. But what can you do with it? Well, the better question is, what can’t you do with it? Despite the vast number of origin stories or the people who fight over what constitutes traditional Chimichurri sauce, the fact is that there are so many different variations on the dish and even more ways that if can be used.
In some ways, Chimichurri is a base dish that you can add or make changes to depending on what you like and what you’re in the mood for. Every Chimichurri sauce will call for at least two cloves of finely chopped garlic, ½ cup of parsley, and olive oil. To this you can add chilli flakes, cilantro, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and many more different things.
Once you have your Chimichurri recipe down, here are a few things that you can do with it:
– Pizza base
A lovely example of fusion food, use your Chimichurri to combine Argentinean and Italian food to crease a Chimichurri pizza. Brush (or dollop) your sauce onto the pizza base and add chicken, and/or beef, and/or seafood and cheese and grill until the cheese is melted. Then serve with a side salad (no dressing) and indulge in a wonderfully healthy and tasty dinner that you’ll keep coming back to.
– Pasta sauce
Chimichurri is traditionally a cold sauce but you can heat it up a tad to add to hot pasta or use as a sauce for a cold pasta dish-whatever you want. Many people use their left over Chimichurri sauce for this but you can whip up a batch for another healthy snack, dinner, or lunch item.
– Tortilla dip
Whether you make your own tortillas or buy them in store, having them with Chimichurri will add to the flavour and make you seem like the cooking king or queen. You can also try it with plain corn chips or original flavour potato chips but I find that these tend to overpower the Chimichurri while the tortilla chips complement it.
– Marinade
Cook your steak or seafood until they are rare so you’re not marinating on raw food, and then slather with the sauce. You can leave it in a slow cooker or place it on the stove top on low heat and allow the meat to absorb the flavours. This can also work with chicken.