Steak chimichurri with roasted vine tomatoes

Argentinian Chimichurri sauce never lasts long in our house! Drizzle it over steak and you might struggle to eat steak again without it.

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 sirloin steaks, about 195g each
2 pinches of salt
2 large pinches of ground black pepper
2 large pinches of garlic granules
1 tbsp olive oil

For the tomatoes
24-32 tomatoes on the vine
drizzle of olive oil
salt, to taste

For the chimichurri sauce
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsp chopped oregano
2 large handfuls of curly parsley
1 large handful of fresh coriander leaves
¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ red onion
good pinch of fine sea salt
good pinch of ground black pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Remove your steaks from the refrigerator so they have about 20 minutes at room temperature before cooking.

To cook the tomatoes, put the vines into a baking dish, drizzle over the olive oil and season with salt. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until soft and juicy.

While the tomatoes are cooking, make the chimichurri sauce. Throw all the ingredients, excluding the vinegar and oil, into a food processor and whiz them up. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the vinegar, then pour over the oil to cover the mixture. Leave the sauce to sit while you prepare your steak.

Set a frying pan over high heat and heat the pan until very hot (do not grease it).

Meanwhile, sprinkle the salt, pepper and garlic granules over both sides of the steak and drizzle with olive oil. Gently massage the oil and seasoning into the meat. Now put the steaks into the pan. Fry the steaks for about 2 minutes on each side for medium-rare, depending on the thickness of the steaks, and 4-5 minutes on each side for well done – do not move the steaks except when you flip them over. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve with the chimichurri spooned over the juicy steaks and the roasted-on-the-vine tomatoes alongside.

#MeatfreeMonday
For a vegetarian option, substitute portobello mushrooms for the steaks (2 per person). Destalk and slightly hollow out the mushrooms before cooking in the oven for 10 minutes at 200ºC/gas mark 6. Meanwhile, fry the hollowed out mushroom scraps for 2 minutes in a drizzle of olive oil with a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of chilli flakes before wilting 50g baby spinach in the pan.

Drain the mushroom juices. Add the spinach mixture to 40g of mashed garden peas and 20g of crumbled feta before stuffing the mushrooms and cooking for a further 5 minutes and serving with the chimichurri sauce.

Tip
You can refrigerate your chimichurri sauce for up to 2 days. Just make sure you bring it back to room temperature before you serve it.

Extracted from The PMA Method by Faisal Abdalla (Aster, approx €17). Photographs by Philip Haynes and Kris Kirkham.