In the short lull between the end of October and mid November, I like to have a break from the kitchen to recoup. That means no eight hour kitchen days for at least one week. So I threw together a chimichurri in 10 minutes, marinaded thinly sliced steak overnight, and spent 15 minutes pulling together a plate of fried sweet onions and bell peppers, seared mushrooms with truffle oil, and steak finished on the cast iron griddle. Super easy.

There’s really no single recipe for chimichurri. It can be done with red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, cilantro or no cilantro, lemon juice or lime juice, olive oil or vegetable oil, etc. Typically there are red pepper flakes, but even that can be substituted out for another spicy ingredient.

The following is only one variant of chimichurri. I like this combination because the lime juice marries very well with cilantro and serranos.

Ingredients
5g oregano
15g cilantro
32g parsley
62g olive oil
14g white wine vinegar
20g lime juice
2 serrano chiles, deseeded
2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
optional: dash of sweet paprika

Toss the ingredients in the food processor and puree. Transfer to a bag with 2 lbs of very thinly sliced beef. Marinade overnight. Take the marinade bag out of the fridge and allow the meat to warm until cool (but not cold). Warm up your cast iron skillet over medium heat. When the skillet is hot, quickly finish your beef until cooked to desired doneness. The steak will take seconds to finish if sliced thinly, so don’t wander! You may need to add a little extra salt or pepper while cooking, but there should be plenty of oil in the marinade so don’t add any to the skillet. Plate and serve.