One night a few of us were down at Lisa Taylor's house, Newport Beach, and she served a steak with an unbelievable sauce called chimichurri. I had to have the recipe! I have impressed lots of people with this dish ever since. (I love impressing people and don't mind admitting it.)
Here's what you'll need for the marinade/sauce:
2 bunches of Italian flat-leafed parsley (If you can't find this, use 1 bunch of both cilantro and regular parsley.)
1 and 1/2 cups of extra-virgin olive oil. (As if there is any other kind out there.)
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon of lime
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (A couple of options instead of red pepper flakes are 1 heaping Tablespoon of minced garlic and/or 1 Tablespoon of apple-cider vinegar. I personally prefer the flakes.)
2 teaspoons of garlic salt
Course ground pepper to taste
Tear of the tops of the bunch of parsley. (Get all the leaves. It's okay if you get some stem.) Puree the 4 ingredients (plus garlic salt and pepper) in a food processor or large bullet then put aside 3/4 of the mixture for a sauce in a small serving bowl to pass around later. Use the rest of it for a marinade for the 2 1/2 lbs. of meat (The traditional meat used is carne asada or flank stake, so I use one of those.) Cut the meat into 3 portions and put it in a 1 gallon bag with the marinade. You then move the meat around in the bag till it is entirely covered. Squeeze all the air out of the bag, and marinate the meat in the bag for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the meat and barbecue on high for 5 minutes then flip meat and cook for another 5 minutes or longer depending on desired temperature. Remove from the barbecue and serve. Great with salad and white rice. (Serves 8)
Cooking Tidbit: Italian flat-leafed parsley has more flavor and has a softer texture than regular curly parsley. Curly parsley (what a fun name) is easier to find and mostly used for a garnish, but it too is packed with flavor.
