One of our favorite treats at Restaurant Magnus in Madison is the chimichurri sauce that they bring out with fresh baked bread at the beginning of the meal. The sauce is a pungent green flavor bomb, with hits of garlic, chili heat, herbs, and vinegar.
Chimichurri is a sauce that has similarities to both a pesto and a salsa, and is an Argentinian staple that is served with grilled meats, especially steak, as well as being a flavorful marinade.
The traditional version is based upon bunches of parsley (or cilantro) and a large quantity of garlic being minced together with some form of chili heat, vinegar, and olive oil.
With a bundle or so of ramps left over in the fridge, we thought we’d make a Wisconsin spring farmer’s market version of chimichurri, using the ramp greens for the parsley and the bulbs for the garlic .
In the end, to keep the dish rooted somewhat in tradition, we added back some parsley and garlic. The result was a sauce that was great with a dinner of grilled steaks and fresh farmers market asparagus, with the ramps providing both an herb and a garlic accent to a juicy cut of beef.
Chimichurri Sauce With Ramps
Ingredients
large bunch of fresh ramps, root end of bulbs trimmed (12-18 ramps)
handful of fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley (1/2 cup chopped)
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
Method
1. Put the ramps, parsley, garlic, and about 1/4 cup of the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until the greens are coarsely ground.
2. Add the red wine vinegar, salt, and red pepper flakes, then pulse to blend. Continue to pulse while drizzling in the olive oil. The sauce can run from thick to thin, based upon your preference, so the amount of oil is up to you. Lean towards less if using as a condiment, or more if using as a marinade.
3. You can serve immediately, or let the flavors blend for a couple of hours. Refrigerate to keep for a few days.
4. The proportions are rough suggestions; vary according to whim, preference, or availability.
If you are looking for a more traditional approach to a chimichurri sauce, Elise at Simply Recipes or Andrea at Andrea’s Recipes have more standard parsley-centric versions with plenty of garlic.
Rick Kiley says
I can’t wait to try the Chimichurri “flavor bomb”; sign me up! Are you able to post the link to Restaurant Magnus?
Keep up the great blog; we love it.
Thanks, Rick
Foodie says
Thanks for visiting! Here is the link to Restaurant Magnus, however it looks like their menu is going Norwegian on June 1st, so we may only have a few more days of said sauce.
Philip Crawford says
I thought the word “ramps” was mostly used out east and WI people call them wild leeks? My dad has always called them wild leeks and it seems only recently that people in Madison are calling them ramps. Or maybe I just never noticed.
In any case, I found a bunch of wild leeks while walking Festge park the other day. Yum!
Foodie says
@Philip Crawford
Have heard both terms used interchangeably. Glad you were able to find some at Festge. You also might have been able to find some morels during the same walk. Thanks for stopping by.