- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
- 8 garlic cloves
- tsp cumin
- 1/2 cup of fresh oregano
- 1/2 cup of cilantro
- 1 chili pepper
- pinch of salt and pepper
a couple weeks ago i was at a friends house admiring the amount of oregano she had growing everywhere. if you have ever grown oregano you know it’s like a weed, sort of like mint. it takes over and grows everywhere. i finally got up the courage and asked her what she did with all of it. i love fresh oregano so i was interested, i also have a ton of it growing.
before i go on, let me let you in on a secret, there is not much food wise i don’t love (mostly just raw fish), but for some reason, maybe you too? i think dried oregano has a really different taste then fresh. most dried herbs pretty much taste similar to what the fresh would taste like, but to me, not oregano. i very rarely cook with dried because i just don’t care for the taste. i use it in spice mixes but other then that it sits in my spice cabinet.
now onto the fresh….my friend told me she makes chimichurri all summer long. it’s her go to steak marinade during the summer. chimichurri is not something i have ever made but have eaten numerous amounts of time, usually with parsley. i’ve seen it in stores, and to be honest, it easy enough to make yourself. she briefly explained what she puts in it, a little bit of this and that, just like pesto, but with oregano and cilantro. i left with a bag full of fresh oregano (she needed to get rid of some and i will never refuse fresh from the ground herbs). i then went home and of course got on the computer and yes, you guessed it, did some research.
oregano and cilantro chimichurri
- get out your food processor, add the first 3 ingredients and pulse.
- i roughly chop my cilantro and oregano just to make the pulsing easier, sometimes i find the stems get stuck and not everything really chops. add to the processor and pulse again.
- add the rest of the ingredients and pulse a couple more times.
my favorite steak to use chimichurri with is a skirt steak. it find it holds the marinade very well and make the meat very soft. i use half of the chimichurri to marinate the steak and then half i serve with the steak.
it is amazing. easy, simple, fresh and so very tasty.
