Weekend BBQ! Skirt Stake marinated in Chimichurri sauce

On the weekend, we had a visitor and the weather was pretty nice so we decided to have BBQ! I love BBQ!

The main dish was skirt stake marinated in Chimichurri sauce. Skirt stake is one of my favorite cut of beef. I think they use this a lot in Mexican food also. I remember that when I went to Anthony Bourdain's restaurant "Les Halles" in Jan, I had skirt stake there also. 

Chimichurri sauce is from somewhere in South America (Argentine, maybe?) It is oil and vinegar base sauce with lots of parsley and garlic. When I went to a Cuban restaurant (I guess they use this sauce in Cuba also) I had stake with Chimichurri sacue. (Click here for that post) Then, when I made roasted pork, I made chimichurri sauce. (click here for that post) Then, a few days later, I was using leftover chimichurri sauce for mashed potato. (click here for that post)

Looking back at those entries, I think you can tell that I like this chimichurri sauce. Yes, I love it. It is really good and you can pour them over to many things. If you are interested in chimichurri sauce recipe, here is the recipe on Food Network website from Tyler Florence (of course!). 

I believe you are supposed to make chimichurri sauce with parsley but I had cilantro in my fridge so I used cilantro this time instead. I wanted to make it really green but since I used food processor to mix everything, the oil got milky and it was not the green I wanted. Oh well. Next time, I will use hand to mix all the ingredients.

I marinade stake in this sauce for 2 hours and them BBQed. I also took half of the sauce on the side before marinating the meat for pour them over the cooked meat.

On the side, we had arugula salad with maple syrup dressing. (please click here for maple syrup dressing recipe ) 

Garlic bread which I posted recipe yesterday. (Well, it is too easy to call it a recipe but click here for how to make it) 

American classic, Tater Tots!!!

The meat was grilled perfectly.

We also made hot dog!

And, we also ended up buying this huge coconut cream pie from Costco. It has lots of cream and very rich. Our friend said that he feels dizzy after he ate this cake. You can see how big this cream pie is when you compare it with my hand. Of course we couldn't eat them all so my husband brought it to his office next day :-)

Oh, we ate good! Did I tell you that I am trying to eat light to loose weight? Oh well. My weight is back to where I was before I go to Germany so I guess now it is OK to eat heavy food sometimes. I will eat less lunch. Does it work? Yeah, why not!

I love marinated meat. They are so juicy and tender. I am going to make perfect chimichurri sauce next time. BBQ season is here. I hope everybody is enjoying BBQ!

My mother-in-law's superb Maple syrup dressing recipe

Have you ever tried Maple syrup dressing? I tried it for the first time when I went to visit my parents in law in Germany. When I first tried it, I liked the taste but I did not know what is in it. I asked my mother-in-law and she told me that it is maple syrup dressing and it is her favorite. I was quite surprised to the idea of using maple syrup in salad dressing because I never thought about the combination. But it was very good and I liked it so much. I asked my mother-in-law for the recipe and I have been making this at home ever since. This salad dressing is perfect for a simple salad.

Here is the recipe

Maple syrup dressing
Maple syrup    2 table spoon
White Balsamic Vinegar   3~4 table spoon
Olive Oil          2 table spoon
Salt & Pepper     for taste

Just mix above ingredients and pour it over your favorite salad.

I use empty glass bin to make salad dressing (if there is left over, I can just store in the fridge like that)
I call it Jamie Oliver way because I have seen him doing this on TV. Of course, it is OK to mix them in a bowl also.

This salad dressing is awesome! It is sweet and tangy and just how I like it. I hope you would like this also.

By the way, I also would like to show one of my favorite tool in the kitchen when I make salad. It is a salad spinner. I am sure a lot of people use it already but you just wash the salad leaves and put them in and push the handle on top and the bowl spins inside and dry the salad. Nobody want to eat soggy watery salad, right? So this is a perfect tool to make crisp salad. This one in the picture is the brand I use at home. It takes up quite a lot of space but if you have space, this will be a great tool for salad making!