Recipe: Chimichurri Sauce

THE WORLD OF VINEGAR
By Dana Jacobi for the
American Institute for Cancer Research

Pungent vinegar has been around even longer than wine, although its name comes from vin aigre, French for sour wine. Vinegar occurs naturally when certain bacteria convert the alcohol in a fermented base into acetic acid. Instead of wine, the base may be apples, beer, or grain, producing cider vinegar, malt vinegar (from beer made without hops), Asian rice vinegar and distilled white vinegar, which starts with grain alcohol and is distilled as well as fermented.

Industrially-produced wine vinegar may also be distilled, a heat process that drives off many of the volatile compounds that give brewed vinegar its complex flavor. For brewed vinegar, which costs more because it takes longer to produce, the wine or other base is inoculated with bacteria and set aside in metal vats or wooden barrels that also enhance the vinegar's flavor. This second fermentation takes months, even years. For the true balsamic vinegar of Modena, Italy, for example, fermentation can last up to 100 years, the aging taking place in a series of different size casks, each made of a different kind of wood, and all adding their own flavor notes.

The bacteria that create vinegar clump together, forming a mass called "mother of vinegar." Sometimes you find a "mother" floating in a vinegar bottle. If you save this gelatinous skin and add it to wine, you'll have a starter for making your own vinegar.

You can buy vinegar flavored with garlic and fresh herbs, especially tarragon or basil, to use in salad dressings or sprinkle on sliced tomatoes, steamed broccoli, green beans and other cooked vegetables. These commercial vinegars are preferable to making them, because if you do not follow proper procedures the wrong bacteria might turn up and make you ill.

Vinegar is the base for chimichurri, the sauce Argentines love. Loaded with garlic and parsley, it is excellent with poultry and spooned over warm beans. Argentines use chimchurri on grilled meat like we use ketchup or steak sauce. I love it as an all-purpose sauce, or even as a salad dressing. It is good on grilled or baked salmon, burgers and beef, or tofu.

Chimichurri Sauce

3 firmly packed cups flat-leaf parsley leaves (1 large bunch)
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. kosher or sea salt (1/2 tsp. table salt)
1/4 cup white wine or cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Place parsley and garlic in a food processor or blender. (If using a blender, add vinegar first.) Pulse until parsley and garlic are roughly chopped. Add oregano, paprika, pepper sauce, black pepper, and salt. Pour in vinegar and water. Blend until parsley is well-chopped but not pur ed. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil.

Makes 1 cup, or 8 1-tablespoon servings.

Per serving: 22 calories, 2 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat), 1 g. carbohydrate, less than 1 g. protein, less than 1 g. dietary fiber, 79 mg. sodium.