South American Lamb with Chimichurri

By Dan Hutton on June 17, 2016 in Food

Meet your new go to sauce, chimichurri, all the way from Argentina. This herby, garlicky mixture takes just minutes to make and will liven up any grilled or pan-fried meats. Here we’ve teamed the South American beauty with some quick cooking spring lamb leg steaks and sauteed capsicum. Delicious!

Cooking time
30-40 minutes

Ingredients
1 garlic clove
1 spring onion
30g parsley
1 vine-ripened tomato
2 red capsicums
3 x 120g lamb leg steaks
60ml (¼ cup) red wine vinegar
Chimichurri mix (1 tsp dried oregano, ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes, ¼ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp paprika)
50g mesclun
2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Prepare ingredients
Finely chop the garlic, spring onion and parsley, including the parsley stalks. Halve the tomato then coarsely grate into a bowl, discarding the skin. Discard the capsicum seeds and membrane, then cut into 2cm pieces.

Prepare lamb
Using a rolling pin or meat mallet, pound the steaks until 2cm thick to tenderise the meat. Season well with salt and pepper on both sides.

Start cooking
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add the lamb and capsicums. Cook the lamb for 2 minutes on each side for medium rare or until done to your liking. Stir the capsicum regularly

Finish cooking
Remove lamb and set aside on a plate in a warm place to rest for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, add half the garlic to the pan with the capsicum and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the capsicum is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add any meat juices from the lamb plate to the pan.

Prepare chimichurri
Meanwhile, add the vinegar, spice mix, spring onion, parsley, remaining garlic, ½ teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of oil to the bowl with the tomato. Season well with pepper.

Get ready to serve
Slice the lamb thinly across the grain and serve with the capsicum, chimichurri and mesclun.