Chimichurri skirt steak and asparagus
When we walked through neighborhoods in Vancouver a couple weeks ago, we noticed every apartment had a deck. More importantly, we discovered these apartments also had grills. Funny how that works out.
There’s something about the sublime weather of late spring in the Pacific Northwest that is conducive to grilling food outdoors. So not long after we returned back to Seattle, we set out to research how we could join the modern age of charring food.
So we started researching. Would we buy gas or charcoal? Big or small? There are tons of factors to consider for the first-time grill buyer. In the end, we went with an 18 1/2-inch charcoal grill, perfect for the small apartment dweller’s porch or patio. Having a charcoal grill was also important, because there’s definitely a noticeable taste difference between using briquettes and toasting a porterhouse with gas heat.
All in all, a grill plus accessories ended up costing us around $110 bucks from Home Depot. We made a mini-mistake of buying match-ready charcoal; we’re planning to use nothing but eco-friendly wood chips from now on. For those who have ever partaken in a South American asado (Spanish for cookout; popular in Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay), their grilling is all done on large outdoor pits with wood-laden fires. And if it was once living, they’ll salt it, grill it and serve it with a glass of Malbec on the side.
For the inaugural test run, Lisa went to the Ballard Farmer’s Market and bought the juiciest, choicest strip steaks she could find. Of course, this came at a hefty price (eating organic & local is not so cheap, sigh) but we wanted to christen our grill with something special. A couple of New York strip steaks were accordingly acquired, and Lisa put together the grill (Jeremy was “studying” for a “final exam”) which ended up being easier to build than most Ikea furnishings.
We heated up the coals (feeling guilty about the Ready-Lite chemicals in the charcoal, but oh well) and 10 minutes later had a scorching grill primed for steaks. Our bible in this endeavor has been Steve Raichlen’s “How To Grill” a nearly 500-page tome of recipes and barbecue techniques. We highly recommend it and want to make pretty much every recipe in the book. In this case, we went with the very simple strip steaks with herb butter. His recipe called for tarragon but we used rosemary, chopping it up and mixing it with room temp butter, salt, pepper, and lemon zest, then chilling it in a cylinder shape.
We tossed the steaks on the grill and about 15 minutes and a bit of anxious fussing later they were done. We topped them with a slice of rosemary butter and served them alongside fresh steamed asparagus. Simple and delicious. Maybe it was the quality of the meat, maybe it was because we put a lot of care into making them, but forget about leftovers — we scarfed down those strips and wiped the plate clean.
The basics covered, we moved on to a cuisine near and dear to Jeremy’s heart – strip steak marinated in chimichurri sauce. It’s a popular Latin American dish, and a staple of what you would see in Argentina, or some tacky themed restaurant ostensibly named “El Gaucho,” or “Tango.” A trip to Whole Foods in Pan Pacific Place (easily the yuppiest spot in the 206 area code. Valet parking? Really?), satisfied all of our prep needs. The chimichurri was easy to assemble: red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, cumin, crushed red peppers, parsley and dried oregano. The steaks then took a nice long bath while Jeremy went off to play softball in Interbay, and upon his victorious return, they were ready to be thrown on the grill. The result was a delightfully tender, yet flavor-packed steak that floored both of us.
The best part about having a grill is the endless possibilities. Next up is chicken wings, pizza, sweetbreads (veal glands…tastes MUCH better than it sounds). Plus it gives Jeremy an outlet to embrace his inner asador. Everybody wins.
Lisa
Jeremy
