Chimichurri: A Light Sauce For Everything

As a Chef I get asked frequently for some fun and light sauce ideas. Note: a good sauce is meant to enhance the natural flavors and round out the dish, not overpower it. Someone once asked me to find a sauce that was a one stop shop. Crazy right? Being one for a challenge I started messing around with sauce ideas and asked some chef buddies for ideas and chimichurri kept coming up. The cool thing about chimichurri sauce is that it’s flexible. What I mean by that is this: take out parsley and add cilantro, remove basil and try oregano, get rid of the chili flakes and add some jalapeños. Yes, there you have it. A sauce that can be tailored to go great with things like: beef, chicken, lamb, hybrid striped bass, potatoes and even some Grilled Mexican White Shrimp.

As you will find with our recipes, we highly encourage messing around. Use our recipes as a template to spark some culinary craziness. Switch out ingredients, adjust as needed and have fun. Cooking is a love and passion of ours and we hope it will become the same for you.

Ingredient Quantity Measure Prep Instructions
Parsley 1 Cup Washed, drained and rough chopped
Garlic 4 Cloves Peeled and minced
Basil 1/4 Cup Washed, drained and rough chopped
Olive Oil 1/2 Cup Use a good oil for this, EVOO is a great choice
Red Wine Vinegar 1/4 Cup Could use White Balsamic if desired
Sea Salt Taste Adjust as needed
Pepper Taste Adjust as needed
Red Pepper Flakes Taste Adjust as needed

 

Methodology
Place all ingredients except the oil into a mixing bowl.
Add the oil slowly and using the hand blender to emulsify the mixture. Be sure not to puree the mixture, it should be chunky.
Season to taste.
If you don’t have a hand blender, this will work great in a blender. Pulse the mixture to get a good final sauce. Don’t puree.