food comas

Argentina knows how to cook meat.  No marinating; just a bit of salt and then the meat is slow roasted as an asado over a charcoal flame that slightly smokes the beef.  The steaks are amazing, but I was equally obsessed with the fresh and spicy chimichurri relish accompaniment.  Natalya and I traveled in Argentina with a few friends back in 2011 and I still remember the meals at Don Julio, Ruca Malen, 1884, and some random gaucho ranch in the Andes where I devoured the succulent steaks smothered in chimichurri sauce.

Now living in Hong Kong, I had a bit of a craving for some Argentinian steak.  However, my apartment is not really conducive to setting up an open charcoal pit so I had to recreate the experience a little bit differently.  I found a recipe that uses the chimichurri sauce as a steak marinade, and I was sold.  It may not be authentic but it saved me two hours of slow roasting over an over flame (which obviously was never going to happen).  This recipe is particularly a snap if you have a food processor… the miracles of the modern day kitchen.

From my photos, you can probably tell the steaks I used were a bit too thin and of questionable frozen quality from the Central wet market… but the chimichurri marinade was a hit and Friday approved.  I will definitely be making this again, but with some proper thick-cut rib-eye steaks.  I served these zesty steaks with Balsamic Roasted Carrots.

Chimichurri Marinated Steak (recipe by Bobby Flay) 

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 rib-eye steaks (8-10 oz each)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chimichurri Marinade:

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeno peppers, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 C white wine vinegar
• 1 T ancho chile powder
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 T oregano
• 1/3 C olive oil

Chile-Mustard Sauce:

• 1 C dijon mustard (I used a combination of yellow and honey mustard because that’s all I had)
• 2 T whole grain mustard
• 2 T ancho chile powder

Directions:

To make the chimichurri marinade, place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Place the steaks in a large shallow baking dish or pan, cover with the marinade and turn to coat.  Refrigerate, covered for 1 to 4 hours.

Preheat grill to high.  Shake off any excess marinade and season with salt and pepper.  Grill the steaks until golden brown on one side, 3 to 4 minutes.  Turn over and continue cooking 3 to 4 minutes for medium rare.

To make the chile-mustard sauce, place all the mustards and chile powder in a small bowl and mix well.  Serve with the steaks and enjoy!