Strip Steak, Crash Hot Potatoes, Chimichurri

[JckDanls 07]

Whole boiled small potatoes,

chef k-dude , Peeled ??

 

[checkdude]

What a great looking meal! It seems that there is no end to the variety one can devise. I love the ingenuity of you all. Excellent job! And I might shamelessly steal your idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

[chef k-dude]

chef k-dude , Peeled ??

Nope, skins and all. But we like the skins, I leave them on for potato salad, etc.. Nothing says you cant peel them if thats your preference but the skins in this case provide a nice chew, in fact it can be hard to cut through these with just a fork because of that.

Note that these are a waxy potato, like red or white smallish (2-3 bite) potato as opposed to, say, a russet. But you can use bigger potatoes, maybe cut in half skin sides down? There are recipes and probably even videos out there to get a well rounded feel for making these. I've seen some variations but brushing with olive oil is important. It helps get those crunchier firm bits

Also, people are using all kinds of things like the bottom of a glass or mug to smash them. I like to use a wire masher like this, spraying with canned olive oil and carefully pushing the bits that stick through with my fingers to get them to release. You will develop a technique as you make these a few times.

 

[chef k-dude]

Interestingly I got this recipe in one of my email boxes for the smashed potatoes today.

Here is the Ree Drummond one

They use Parmesan. I dont.

 

[bellarozes]

What is your recipe for chimichurri? I recently made this for the first time and am conflicted in how I feel about it, might’ve been my recipe.

 

[chef k-dude]

Glad you asked. I have some cilantro that needs used and this is a good way to preserve it longer.

When I'm planning ahead to make chimichurri, I like to make a parley/cilantro blend. Here is my most recent version of that one. You can see I'm trying to apply weight measures for many things these days. I am so sick of recipes that say stuff like 3 medium potatoes or onions for instance, so I'm trying to "factualize" as much as possible to eliminate any guesswork:

Parsley and cilantro chimichurri 2024

1 cup loosely packed parsley 20+ grams
1 cup loosely packed cilantro 20+ grams
¾ cup or 90 grams rough chopped onion
15 grams peeled garlic cloves, rough chopped
1 tbls red wine vinegar
2-3 tbls lime juice (three makes it pretty limey but 2 or 3 is good)
1/3 cup EVOO
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 tbls house made Italian herb blend
20 grinds black pepper
½ tsp red pepper flakes

Add garlic, onion, vinegar and lime juice to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until finely minced, scraping sides as necessary.

Add cilantro, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, black and red pepper and pulse several times until finely chopped but still have texture.

Add olive oil and pulse a few times to mix.

Transfer to glass container

A great easy sauce that can be used for lots of stuff. Only costs a few bucks to make and keeps in the fridge for at least a week.


This was apparently my last tweak on just cilantro chimichurri back in 2001:

Cilantro Chimichurri (Ken’s tweaks)
(approx. 4 servings)

1 cup cilantro
¼ cup chives, chopped green onion or even regular onion would work in a pinch
2 cloves garlic chopped a little, the blender with pulverize it
2 tbls lime juice
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup EVOO
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
20 grinds fresh ground pepper
Blast all in the blender until a smooth sauce.