Cilantro Chimichurri
The food and wine pairing classes I’ve taken at Northwest Wine Academy have had an ongoing influence on me. In Varietals II where red wine is explored at great length, we were tasked with serving a dish to pair with Malbec. I’m now obsessed with pairing food with Malbec. All the time. Seriously.
One of the food and wine pairing principles says, “if it grows together it goes together.” In other words, wines typically pair with the foods native to the same region. In Argentina, chimichurri sauce is often used as a condiment. Malbec is one of the well known wines of Argentina. So, when planning on drinking Malbec, I often use chimicurri as a bridge between the wine and the dish I’m preparing.
This week, I made some tweaks to the standard chimichurri recipe. You see, we’ve had a bit of snow here in Seattle, and I’m not heading to the grocery store in this weather. It just goes to show that if you don’t have all the ingredients a recipe calls for, there’s no need to panic. Just make some adjustments.
Here’s my quick and easy recipe:
- 3 cups fresh spinach, washed and dried
- 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- pinch of dried Mexican oregano
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- juice of half a lime
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Put all of the ingredients except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. With the processor running, add the oil. If you’d like it wetter, add more oil until it reaches your desired consistency.
I tossed this with some spaghetti squash and served it as a side dish for Mole Poblano. You could also use it to dress up a roasted sweet potato. Tonight we might use it on homemade pizza with some pancetta and roasted delicata squash. At the blog, Tea and Cookies, you can see another version of chimichurri used on pasta. Brilliant!
Wine Pairing
As I mentioned before, chimichurri is typically my go-to condiment when I plan on serving Malbec. We enjoyed the chimichurri on Spaghetti Squash Fritters along with a pour of Bodega Noemia de Patagonia J. Alberto 2008 Malbec.
Alternatively, try it with a fruity Zinfandel. We like the chimichurri tossed with roasted delicata squash when served with Northwest Wine Academy 2009 Zinfandel which is softer than California Zinfandel yet still fruit forward. The touch of oak on this wine is soft enough that it enhances the food and wine experience rather than distracts.
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Tags: Bodega noemia de patagonia, Condiment, Malbec, Northwest Wine Academy, Recipe, Zinfandel
