This week for Sunday dinner I rummaged through all the
recipes I had torn out of magazines to find something a bit different. The
family doesn’t mind being guinea pigs and this week they were more than happy
after trying this unusually cooked but flavorful offering.
The recipe, originally published in the June 2013 issue of Sunset magazine, called for either bison
or beef tri-tip cooked on a barbeque with
a cast-iron pan. While bison is a nice lean meat, it isn’t widely available
(although Butcher Son could obtain some if I had so desired), so I tested it
with the more standard beef.
The method used to cook the meat is Argentine in origin and
is called a la plancha—requiring a
cast iron grill pan, skillet or griddle and cooked in a barbeque. According to the recipe, this method
creates an even quick sear that leaves a crusty exterior while staying moist
and juicy on the inside.
I found this to be an easy to prepare dish, suitable for
weeknight dinners but fancy enough to serve to guests. What puts the dish over
the top is the huge amount of flavor garnered from the rosemary-parsley
chimichurri sauce. In fact I wanted to ladle to sauce onto the roasted
fingerling potatoes as well. Or maybe just drink it with a straw, it was that
good, and the family wholeheartedly agreed. A winner recipe that is sure to
make its way into our rotation this summer. And there is no reason that I
shouldn’t keep a jar of the chimichurri sauce in my refrigerator, as it will be
great on most any kind of meat, as well as roasted potatoes and maybe even some
select vegetables.
While the recipe called for an overnight marinade, it isn’t
strictly necessary. If you remember to do it the night before great; if you
have time in the morning before work, that works, too. I only had 4 hours of
marinating, but in actuality an hour or two will do the trick, primarily
because the sauce is so excellent that any flavor is overwhelmed by it. And if
you have no time to marinate….no problem.
Recipe on next page