Ingredients
-
For Steak Marinade
-
1,5 lb Skirt Steak
-
1 lime Lime Juice
-
1 lime Zest of Lime
-
2 cloves Garlic
-
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
-
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
-
1/4 cup Olive oil
-
1/4 teaspoon Salt
-
For Chimichurri Sauce
-
1/2 cup Fresh Parsleyfinely chopped
-
1 clove Garlic
-
2 sprigs Fresh Oreganofinely chopped
-
1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
-
1/2 cup Olive oil
-
1/2 teaspoon crushed Red Pepperflakes
-
to taste Pepper
My Two Cents
Seared skirt steak is one of the easiest and elegant appetizers. Add some fresh and spicy chimichurri sauce to go with it and you will have the perfect flavor combination on your plate!
Skirt steak is an underestimated cut of beef here, in the United States. When I go to any supermarket around my house, this cut always is in the back, hidden with more well-known and traditional steaks like fillets or NY strips.
I understand why. It is not an easy cut to work with at a glance: thin, with a visually tough texture and fat, not many people know what to do with it. But there is a place, where seared skirt steak is a staple dish and a must-have on the menu. This place is Argentina.
How does Argentinian skirt steak taste so tender and so juicy with a hint of smoke? The answer is – marinade.
The marinade helps to break down long grains of this cut and preserve its juices when you sear it. It is a simple, yet sophisticated technic, which I will teach you today.
My cooking tip: if you don’t have much time to marinate the steak – warm up the marinade in a cooking pan before pouring it into the bag, it will speed up the process. But do not make it too hot, no one likes boiled beef right? You can let the bag with marinated steak on the countertop cool down then place it in the fridge for 30 min.
Directions
|
1
Done
overnight
|
Marinate the steakPlace your beef cut in a plastic bag or ziplock and add all marinade ingredients to it. Do not bother premixing it in a bowl – just seal and shake! Place in the fridge for as long as 24 hours prior to cooking. |
|
2
Done
10 min
|
ChimichurriFor the chimichurri sauce, I use a mortar and a pestle (stone grinding bowl) to mash my garlic with salt. You also can mash garlic with your knife. My cooking tip: to mash garlic easier add a pinch of salt or pepper to it before mashing. This will help to get a nice consistent texture! When you get that nice mashy garlic paste, add olive oil, vinegar, parsley, and oregano and lightly press and stir with a pestle. If you don’t have one use a spoon and apply little pressure to reveal all that herb aroma to the sauce. All you need now is to try it and see if you would like to have more salt/pepper or red pepper flakes added. Traditional chimichurri is on the spicy side so I usually add half a teaspoon of flakes to mine. |
|
3
Done
10 min
|
Sear the SteakAfter you let the beef marinate, take it out of the sauce. You can save the marinade for some veggies stir fry if you are looking for this to be dinner instead of an appetizer. Place beef on a high heated pan ( I use skillet pan but any type would work, to be honest), and depending on the thickness cook 2 minutes on each side. Let rest for at least 5 minutes. |
|
4
Done
|
Slice and ServeSlice thin across the beef structure ( basically look for long lines of beef muscle and cut across not along to make the beef taste even softer) and pour chimichurri over it. Serve immediately. |
