Churrasco with Chimichurri

Valentines Day week. Eduardo bought me roses, which he does every year, and I made him dinner, which I do every day, and we called it Valentines Day. Twenty-eight years of marriage and our romantic life consists of roses and dinner and sitting on the couch watching the news and that is fine. That is more than fine. That is the kind of love they do not make movies about because it is too quiet for a movie but too important for anything less than real life.

I made churrasco for Valentines Day dinner — grilled skirt steak marinated in garlic and lime and olive oil, served with chimichurri and arroz blanco and a salad that I made only because it was Valentines Day and one should make an effort toward health on the day of love, even if the effort is one small salad next to a large steak. Eduardo ate the steak. He did not eat the salad. I ate the salad. This is our dynamic and it has worked for twenty-eight years and I am not changing it.

Sofia received a Valentines Day card from a boy at school. A BOY. She tried to hide it. She cannot hide things from me because I am her mother and I have eyes that see through walls and around corners and into the backpacks of teenage girls. The card was sweet — handwritten, with a drawing of a heart that was lopsided in the way that teenage hearts always are. She said, Mami, it is nothing. I said, Mija, a boy who makes you a card by hand is not nothing. She blushed. I did not push. I have four children. I know when to push and when to stand back. This was a standing-back moment. She will tell me more when she is ready, and I will be in the kitchen when she does, because the kitchen is where Delgado women have their important conversations. Always in the kitchen. Always with food. Always.

Called Mami. Asked her what Papi did for Valentines Day when they were young. She went quiet for a moment and then said, He brought me orchids from the hillside. Wild orchids. He picked them himself. Before the drinking got bad. He would walk up the hill behind the house and come back with orchids and put them in a jar of water on the kitchen table and he would not say anything because your father, like Eduardo, was not a man of many words. But the orchids said it. I sat with the phone against my ear and I thought about Papi, young and sober and climbing a hill for orchids, and I wished I had known that man better. I knew the other one. The loud one. The drunk one. But the orchid man — I wish I had known him longer.

I got off the phone with Mami and stood in my kitchen for a long time, thinking about that orchid man on the hill—the one I never really got to know. When I feel something too big to say out loud, I cook something that requires my hands to work hard, something with fire and smoke and the smell of garlic and lime filling the whole apartment. Churrasco is that recipe for me—it’s what I make when I need to honor a feeling without turning it into words. Here’s how I made it that night.

Prep Time: 20 minutes (plus 2–4 hours marinating) | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes active | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 lbs skirt steak, trimmed and cut into 4 portions
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
For the Chimichurri:
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, tightly packed, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Marinate the steak. Whisk together the garlic, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin in a shallow dish or zip-top bag. Add the skirt steak, turn to coat, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 4. Do not marinate longer or the lime will begin to break down the texture of the meat.
Make the chimichurri. Combine the chopped parsley, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Stir well and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving so the flavors come together.
Bring steak to room temperature. Remove the steak from the refrigerator 20–30 minutes before grilling. Pat dry with paper towels — a dry surface is what gives you a proper sear.
Heat the grill. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to high heat (450–500°F). Skirt steak needs intense heat and a short cook time. Clean and oil the grates.
Grill the steak. Grill the steak for 3–4 minutes per side for medium-rare, pressing lightly with tongs to ensure full contact with the grates. Skirt steak is thin — it cooks fast and benefits from being slightly pink inside.
Rest and slice. Transfer to a cutting board and rest for 5 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain — this is essential with skirt steak. Cutting with the grain will make it tough; against the grain keeps it tender.
Serve. Arrange the sliced steak on a platter and spoon chimichurri generously over the top. Serve immediately alongside arroz blanco and a salad, even if the salad goes mostly uneaten.

Nutrition (per serving)

Churrasco with Chimichurri — The Quiet Love We Cook For