Here is a great sauce I picked up from my South American travels. Chimmichurri is a blend of parsley, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt and aji (a type of super spicy pepper), and is used typically on steak dishes. While eating lunch at a restaurant one day, I just happened to dip my sweet potato wedge into David’s chimmichurri and … POP! SHAZAM! POW! It was so delicious.
I later researched the health benefits of parsley and found that raw parsley contains a compound, apegenin, which is a potent anti-cancer phytochemical. Apegenin has been seen to inhibit the promotion and progression stages of cancer growth, and is a compound of high interest for further studying.
Chimmichurri
1 large bunch of flat leaf parsley, stems and all, washed
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 2 limes
1/2 tsp aji, minced (or 1 jalapeño)
4 cloves garlic, raw
hearty dash of salt
- Place everything into a blender and blend away!
- You may need to play with this recipe a bit, tasting and adding what might be needed. I never measure ingredients for sauces; rather, I eyeball, taste and modify. It should have a consistency similar to that of pesto, maybe a little thinner.
This chimmichurri is great on anything, so please, experiment and share!
I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina and grew up eating asado. There are a million ways to make chimichurri, but i’ve never seen one that looks like the one in the photo and (though it might have changed in the last 11 years) lime has never been a common ingredient… The sauce isn’t blended, is just stirred and chili is optional.
I came across several versions of this sauce, a blended one included. I learned this style in Peru – it was served with a typical peruvian dish, Lomo Saltado. Perhaps there are differences between the Argentinean and Peruvian chimichurris…