"cowboy steak" with Chimichuri Sauce

Have you ever made a chimichurri sauce?

It's an Argentinean sauce or condiment, similar to pesto, that is popular throughout South America. This basic version uses fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, oil and vinegar and a little bit of chili pepper, though the variations on this theme are endless. What I love about it is that it makes use of the parsley that is growing like crazy in our garden, and everything else we are either growing or have in our pantry. In Argentina it is used both as a marinade and a sauce for grilled steak, but you can use it also with fish, chicken, or even pasta. Check out the links at the bottom of the recipe for some different takes on chimichurri from fellow food bloggers. If you have a favorite dish with which you use chimichurri sauce, please let us know about it in the comments.


Chimichurri Recipe
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Ingredients

* 1 cup firmly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, trimmed of thick stems
* 3-4 garlic cloves
* 2 Tbsps fresh oregano leaves (can sub 2 teaspoons dried oregano)
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 2 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method

1 Finely chop the parsley, fresh oregano, and garlic (or process in a food processor several pulses). Place in a small bowl.

2 Stir in the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Adjust seasonings.

Serve immediately or refrigerate. If chilled, return to room temperature before serving. Can keep for a day or two.

Serves 4.

Suggestions
Try it with "cowboy steak"


The first time I saw a "cowboy steak" at our local butcher, all I could think was, "wow, that's one BIG steak". Looking like a two-inch thick steak ping-pong paddle, the cowboy cut of steak is actually a beef rib-eye, bone-in, with the bone Frenched, so that if you were the cowboy eating this steak, you could just hold it by the bone. (So cowboys don't use forks and knives?) I can just see Marlboro Man now, sitting by the campfire, tin coffee cup in one hand, cowboy steak in the other. (Hmm. Maybe I should ask Ree, the Pioneer Woman herself, if cowboys even eat steaks like this.) Or maybe it's just a marketing ploy to sell more steak. In any case, we love cooking meat bone-in for the flavor, and this is a very flavorful cut. We marinated the steak in, and served it with, an Argentinean chimichurri sauce, appropriate because, as you know, Argentina is home to the famed gauchos, or South American cowboys