Cheers for Chimichurri!
Chimichurri is a condiment most closely associated with South American beef dishes. Essentially, it is a mixture of herbs (parsley and cilantro are most common), garlic, oil, vinegar, and spices, combined in various proportions into a paste and spread over a main protein. I first encountered it in a Brazilian rodizio(*) where a pot of chimichurri was served to accompany all of the meats that came to the table. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of different recipes available for chimichurri available in cookbooks and on the internet, but most are variations in herbs, herb proportions, spices, and vinegar proportion. I’ve included it in my collection of condiments that I’ve made over the past few years and I always enjoy is, but it never attracted the attention of my true love – it was just another thing to add extra flavor to the main course.
A few weeks ago we traveled to Barcelona and had an absolutely wonderful time (except for the day my phone was stolen but that’s not a story for a food and travel blog). One thing that surprised me was the impact of Latin American food on Spanish/Catalonian cuisine. I expected to see many examples of the reverse (gazpacho, for example) but I didn’t anticipate guacamole and nachos. In hindsight, I recognize now that as widespread as guacamole was on the menus of Barcelona, it was likely tourist driven. Mexican and Tex-Mex food are very available throughout most of the tourist-friendly sections of the city and it isn’t unreasonable to expect that Barcelonians would enjoy guacamole and embrace it for their own.
The same thing is true with chimichurri, except that we saw chimichurri in ways we didn’t expect. For example, one night we dined on octopus braised with potatoes, onions, and smoked paprika served with chimichurri. Another time we saw chimichurri as a condiment designed to be mixed into a stew.
There was one other difference between the chimichurri we enjoyed in Barcelona and what I’d experienced in Brazilian, Argentinian, or Mexican restaurants – the taste. The dominant flavors in Latin American chimichurris I’d eaten were parsley, garlic, and vinegar. The spices and other herbs added variety but the foundation was parsley, garlic, and vinegar. In Barcelona, the chimichurri was more complex. One obvious element was the very discernible presence of smoked paprika but it was more than just the paprika. Something was different.
When I got home, I do what I always do when returning from a trip – I tried to imitate some of the dishes we’d eaten to extend the feeling of the city we’d just left. One of my guides was Catalan Food: Culture and Flavors from the Mediterranean by Daniel Olivella with Caroline Wright. It’s a delightful look at Catalonian cuisine and has been the source of some wonderful dinners. When browsing through Catalan Food, I came across a recipe for chimichurri and sure enough, it was different from what I’d been used to making.
Disclaimer: I have two other Spanish cookbooks at home and both had recipes for chimichurri that were closer to Olivella’s than they were to recipes I’d taken from Latin American sources, but three cookbooks do not constitute a comprehensive search of the Catalonian approach to chimichurri.
The presence of paprika was obvious but I’d detected that while in Barcelona. What wasn’t obvious was a difference in the composition of the herbs. Instead oof something that was approximately 50% parsley and 50% cilantro, the herbs were 50% parsley, 25% thyme, and 25% oregano. The change from cilantro to thyme/oregano was dramatic, not only for the presence of thyme and oregano but also for the absence of the cilantro. A little less vinegar than “normal” allowed the herbs and paprika to come forward a little more.
All in all, the Catalonian chimichurri was a success and the results were delicious. And that led me down a path I didn’t expect.
My true love loved it. The first batch I made was gone in three meals. So I had to make more and that was a problem. How often do you use fresh thyme in a recipe. Do you know how much time it takes to strip the leaves from the stalk for a small bunch of thyme? And how boring it can be? I was delighted to make a second batch but when that disappeared in a few days, I was a little less enthusiastic about a third batch. When it came to a fourth, I was looking for an excuse to do something else. As an inducement to make a BIG batch, she said she’d help me strip the leaves. On a bright Sunday afternoon, we sat down together to strip 1/2 cup of thyme and oregano leaves. It took us about 45 minutes (and, by the way, finding enough fresh thyme and fresh oregano to produce 1/2 cup each of leaves isn’t easy 0r cheap).
An alternative that I was initially reluctant to explore was using dried herbs. Using a traditional ratio of 1 part dried herb = 3 parts fresh herb (not intuitive but it’s right), I tried a triple batch and it didn’t quite work out. The color was wrong and the texture seemed a little off. Since the parsley wasn’t the most difficult part of prepping this dish, I went back to fresh parsley. Crushed the garlic in the mortar and pestle, crushed 3/4 cup of packed fresh parsley, added paprika and vinegar, and after a heavy application of mortar and pestle muscle, the dried thyme and oregano was worked into the paste. Add oil and it all worked out fine.
There was one more shortcut to test. Adding all that parsley to my (bigger than normal) mortar and pestle meant (a) a lot of work grinding the herbs and (b) the mortar was pretty close to capacity and often spilled over if I wasn’t careful. I decided to try a mini-food processor to see if I could make this task a little faster and a little neater. In a word, FAIL. The mini-food processor tended to throw the chopped/ground herbs up against the side of the bowl and I had to stop every few seconds to scrape down the bowl. In addition, the act of chopping presents a different, and less effective look than crushing. It was almost impossible to get the food processor to hit everything so little bits of leaves and stems were very present. With the mortar and pestle, I could target the grinding to get a smoother product.
By using dried oregano and thyme and tripling (mostly) the ingredients, I was able to get a version of chimichurri that comes very close to what we enjoyed in Barcelona but will last us more than three or four days. For the moment, this is the basic condiment in the Kilt in the Kitchen household.
The recipes. below show the original from Catalan Food and my adaptation for a larger batch. I’m responsible for any variations from original that don’t work out.
Recipes
Chimichurri – single batch
Ingredients
2 tbl fresh thyme
2 tbl fresh oregano
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves
salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbl red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Add garlic cloves and a large pinch of salt to the mortar. Crush garlic until it forms a paste.
Add thyme, oregano, and some of the parsley. Crush until herbs begin to form a thick paste. Keep adding parsley and crushing until all the herbs are crushed to the right consistency.
Add paprika and vinegar and fold into the paste.
Add the oil very slowly into the mix as if making a vinaigrette. Initially add just a few drops and fold in to the paste. Gradually increase the amount being added but keep the flow of oil slow and make sure that it is being thoroughly mixed in before adding more.
Chimichurri – triple batch
Ingredients
2 tbl dried thyme
2 tbl dried oregano
3/4 cup packed fresh parsley
6 garlic cloves
salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
3 tbl red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Add garlic cloves and a large pinch of salt to the mortar. Crush garlic until it forms a paste.
Add a small handful of the parsley. Crush until it begins to form a thick paste. Keep adding parsley and crushing until it is all crushed to the right consistency.
Add paprika and vinegar and fold into the paste.
Add the dried herbs and fold into the paste. Make sure that the dried herbs are crushed as much as possible and are thoroughly distributed throughout the mix.
Add the oil very slowly into the mix as if making a vinaigrette. Initially add just a few drops and fold in to the paste. Gradually increase the amount being added but keep the flow of oil slow and make sure that it is being thoroughly mixed in before adding more. Frequently scrape down the side of the mortar with the pestle. Be careful that the mixture does not overflow the mortar.