Steak, Asparagus & Chimichurri Pasta
April 28th, 2009 | Filed under: entree, recipe | Tags: lemon, parsley, pasta, steak
Around here everyone dresses their skirt steaks with a dollop of Chimichurri. If you’ve never had it, you’re definitely missing out. Chimichurri is a steak condiment originally from Argentina and made from parsley, olive oil, garlic, salt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes. It’s rich and herbal, tangy and a little spicy. It’s the perfect accompaniment for grilled beef.
Since Chimichurri also resembles pesto, I figured it would make a great pasta sauce. And I was right. I grilled a skirt steak and some big, purple asparagus and tossed them with Rigatoni and a fresh batch of Chimichurri. I loved the grilled flavors with the pasta and garlicky sauce.
This is the perfect meal to eat outdoors when the weather is nice and you have a big frosty beer or chilly glass of wine. Is it the weekend yet?
Steak, Asparagus & Chimichurri Pasta
Refrigerate the leftover Chimichurri for up to 3 weeks.
For the chimichurri (This makes a full batch and I only used half on the pasta):
3 cloves garlic
2 cups Italian or curly parsley (I like Italian), loosely packed
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. Rigatoni
1 lb. skirt steak
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. thick asparagus, tough ends removed
Start by making the Chimichurri. Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until all large pieces of parsley and garlic are gone. If you don’t have a blender, chop the garlic and parsley finely, then whisk with the remaining ingredients. Set aside.
Heat your grill to medium-high and sprinkle the steak with 1 tsp. salt. Once the grill is hot, place the steak and asparagus on it. Turn the asparagus often, ensuring it doesn’t burn. Remove it when it’s tender, but still crisp (time depends on how thick your asparagus is, about 5 – 8 minutes). Cook the steak to your desired done-ness, then remove and let sit for 5 minutes. Slice the steak into bite-sized pieces and cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces.
While you’re grilling, set a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Once it comes to a boil, salt it thoroughly and add the rigatoni. Cook until al dente, then drain and return to pot.
Toss the pasta with half the amount of Chimichurri until well coated. Toss in the steak and asparagus and serve.
Makes 4 – 6 servings.
I love finding out new says to use chimichurri! The last thing I came up with was mixing it with tuna. This pasta, steak and asparagus mix is simply brilliant. Thanks!!
Chimichurri as pesto? Brilliant. I love everything in that bowl!
Chimichurri is the best! I’m with Melissa, everything in that bowl is amazing.
Now this is my type of meal!!!. For those of you that have never had “Chimi, Chimichurri” I’m telling you it’s awesome. It’s so good that if you put it on the boot of a soldier that just finished 3 months of boot camp without changing his socks, you would ask for his other boot. That good!!!
This sounds great! I love the idea of using chimichurri as pasta sauce.
I’ve never ha chimichurri but I’m sure willing to try it. Like the above commenters sai, I like everything in that bowl. And I have a skirtsteak in the freezer! SU’ed
Melissa, we lived in Miami for many years (moved 2 years ago and really miss it). We love Cuban food. I found you on the SE site and love your recipes.
I just made this last night – it was fantastic!! I added a red pepper and 2 portobello mushroom caps to the grill pan too, since I didn’t have enough skirt steak in my freezer. I replaced one of the tbsp of lemon juice with lime juice, and added some lemon and lime zest to the chimicurri.
I am definitely going to make this again!!!
I made this for all my dad’s friends tonight and they RAVED over it. thank you so much! =)
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