For this surprisingly smooth, yet flavorful, chimichurri, I take some of the fresh ingredients that one might find in their favorite Chimichurri and roast them in the oven. It’s almost like a romesco sauce without the nuts and bread.

Walk past any dry spice stand in Argentina and you’ll have a hard time missing the adobo para pizza sitting right beside chimichurri mixes, oregano, parsley, and other common herbs & spices. For chefs or home cooks, who see no need in purchasing a commercial blend, this mixture may be custom made before or at the last minute by sprinkling here and there a few simple ingredients. Either way, adobo para pizza is the go to seasoning for adding a spicy herbal kick to pizzas when parsley, oregano, or basil just won’t cut it by themselves.

I’ve been meaning to write up a little list on the use of herbs and spices in Argentina, and I’ll get to that eventually, but aji molido came up twice about a week ago so I’ll get it out of the way first. First, there was a comment on the chimichurri recipe post and then one through e-mail; the latter a request for retailers that sell it in the U.S and I listed a couple at the end of this post.

When it comes to a simple parsley-garlic chimichurri, I’ll usually chop up a large bunch of parsley, mince some garlic, sprinkle salt and pepper, and then mix all of that with oil, vinegar, and water. The amount of garlic cloves may vary as well as the ratio of liquids–sometimes I leave out the water

In Argentina, refined rock salt is available in three different sizes: sal fina(fine salt), sal entrefina(semi-fine/half-refined salt), or sal gruesa(coarse salt). Kosher and harvested sea salt, in case you were wondering, are moving along at a snail’s pace in terms of rising popularity and use.

Chimichurri performs a superb job at being a condiment, marinade, or basting sauce for grilled meats, but this zesty sauce can also add some extra zip to many other foods as well. Chimichurri Remoulade Mix one part chimichurri(strain some if too liquidy) to three parts mayonnaise to create a delicious remoulade for fish, crab cakes, [...]

A few of the major companies here in Argentina that whip out salt, spices, dried herbs, and seasonings offer ready-made chimichurri dry mixes that only require the inclusion of wet ingredients to create a version of the famed sauce. Now obviously this holds nothing on good ‘ol aged chimichurri that is made with fresh vegetables, [...]

Now I know this site focuses primarily on Argentina but I think it would be great to mix in a few surprises once in a while from the neighbors. This popular condiment, served throughout Chile, is so good that I would never forgive myself for not letting you know of its existence. I can eat [...]

One day, long ago, I was told that someone “is bringing over some barbecued chicken from Decatur. It’s the best.” About an hour later, two barbecued chickens arrived with little containers of white sauce. Being the young naive person that I was (probably still am I guess), barbecue sauce from a barbecue joint, to me, [...]

Salmuera (brine) is a fantastic, yet overly simple, concoction to use as a basting sauce (previously mentioned in the simple adobos post). I’ve said before that salt is largely the only seasoning used on barbecued meats in Argentina. Salmuera stays in line with that tradition yet also includes the added benefit of keeping meats that [...]