Chori-pizza

I have been wanting to make this pizza ever since I wandered the city streets of Argentina.  It was an idea inspired by my many encounters with another hand-held food beacon, one that is served from street carts all around South America.  The one, the only, Choripan.

My rendezvous with choripan in Argentina were abundant and, more importantly, welcomed.  Your basic choripan is the simple combination of french bread, grilled chorizo (pork sausage), and different toppings of your desire.  Chimichurri sauce is the most native and renowned topping, of which I could eat by the spoonfuls if I knew no one was watching.  I expressed my love for chimichurri when I paired it with fish while living in Buenos Aires working at a wine school.  And then I put it in the guacamole.  And the rice.  And here I am again, finding more ways to incorporate this Green Sauce of the Gods into my life as much as possible.


But first, a few pictures to reflect on choripan in its natural habitat.

 

Ah, nothing better than a good photo reel of the glories of choripan.



So, the pizza.  It's summer, so the grill was the go-to cooking mechanism.  Within ten minutes, the chimichurri was made and the chorizo grilled and broken into pieces for pizza-topping purposes.  That's when you could find me standing over the food processor, eyes closed, taking deep breaths in of the just-made, herbacious, lemon-and-vinegar-and-olive oil bliss that wafted from below.  It's like a facial you get at a spa....only one million times better.

The other flavor components we wanted to add to the pizza came from crumbled queso fresco, caramelized shallots and garlic, thinly sliced tomato, and a final sprinkle of fresh parsley and cilantro.  Now it was ready for its ultimate creation.

As we sat and ate this pizza, we wondered.  We wondered how something so delicious could be so undiscovered.  Every bite was...awesome.  Satisfying, balanced, packed with flavor.   Chori-pizza...why have you not been discovered yet?  To the point where your existence is shouted over mountain tops and your name is on every trendy pizza menu worldwide?  We wondered.  And kept eating, mostly in silence, with eyes glazed over with satisfaction and accomplishment.

We paired our pizza creation with a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon from Catena Zapata.  This bold, spicy, and currant/cassis fruit wine was not only an excellent pair to the flavorful pizza, it was a perfect way to celebrate the exciting news that I will be moving down to Mendoza, Argentina next month to work for the Catena Zapata winery!  There was a lot to celebrate, and the meal turned out to be a perfect celebration of the flavors, and future adventures, in Argentina all at once.

Make this pizza, drink this wine, and experience a trip to Argentina.  Then, after you're inspired to go to the real place, know there will be friendly face to greet you there when you arrive.


Salud!

Chori-pizza

Ingredients

1 ball of pizza dough, store-bought or homemade

1 batch of chimichurri sauce (recipe below)

1/2 pound bulk chorizo sausage

1 medium sized tomato, thinly sliced

1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco

2 large shallots, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Freshly chopped parsley and cilantro (optional)

Method

Preheat your grill to medium high heat.  Form the chorizo into a patty and grill until cooked through.  When cool, break up into bite sized pieces.  Set aside.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat on the stovetop.  Add sliced shallots and garlic to the pan and cook until softened and golden brown, stirring often to avoid burning.  Season with salt and set aside.

Assemble all toppings on a tray to be ready to top the pizza and bring to grill-side.

Stretch out your pizza to desired size and thickness.  Brush one side with oil and lay that side down first on the hot grill.  Put the top down on the grill and let cook for 1-2 minutes depending on strength of heat, monitoring it to make sure its not burning.  

Brush the second side of dough with oil and flip.  Add toppings to pizza in desired amounts - chimichurri, chorizo, tomatoes, shallot/garlic mixture, queso fresco.  If you can do this quickly you can keep the pizza on the grill.  If you are slower, take the dough off the grill, top it, and then put back on. 

Cook pizza on second side until done, 1-2 more minutes.   

Take off grill and sprinkle with fresh parsley and cilantro.  Slice and serve.

Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves

1 small shallot (or half of 1 large shallot)

1 cup packed parsley leaves

1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Method

Pulse garlic cloves and shallot in a food processor until finely chopped.  Add parsley, cilantro, oregano, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar.  Process to combine and finely chop the herbs.

With the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil until the chimichurri reaches your desired consistency.  Season with salt to taste.  

Take a moment to smell the magic wafting from your creation below.  

Chimichurri Baked Fish with Lemon Shallot Rice and Guaca-churri

After an extended amount of time living in Buenos Aires, you figure out that steak is almost its own food group.  You're able to not only get it whenever and wherever you want, but it's often the only thing you smell as you walk down restaurant-strewn streets.  It's equally as likely to walk by restaurant patios and see people eating a mammoth slab of bife de choirzo for lunch at 2pm as it is to see the same scenario for 'dinner' at 2am.  Although fantastic if you are craving a perfectly grilled piece of cow, it is clearly not something you would necessarily want to indulge in every day.   

One of my favorite things about having steak down here, however, are the condiments they serve with it.  The most popular and my ultimate favorite is the chimichurri sauce, as it speaks to my heart with it's bright acidity from red wine vinegar, smooth edge of good olive oil, and flavorful herbal punch of oregano and parsley.  It is a perfect accompaniment to a rich and savory cut of steak, but incredibly versatile as to what else it could pair up with as well.

...like fish and guacamole!  One night my roommate and I decided we wanted to make an argentinean inspired dinner at our apartment, but without using the standard and expected role of steak.  Chimichurri sauce was my required inclusion to the meal, and we realized it would go equally as well with a nice piece of baked fish as it would steak.  The lemon rice was the perfect bright pairing for a starch, and once I realized that chimichurri would not only go great mixed into guacamole, but that I could also call it Guaca-churri, it was a done deal trio.  

It.  Was.  Delicious.  Seriously, we still talk about the meal.  It is so fantastically flavorful that you literally are blown away with every bite, which in turn makes you chew just a little bit slower to be able to taste every flavor element that just came off of your fork.  Bright lemon, herbacious sauce, fresh chive, flaky light fish, smooth guac...es del cielo!  (it's from heaven!).  

And now, you too can taste a lighter side of Argentina.  Buen provecho!  

Chimichurri Baked Fish 
All of these recipes Serve 2, and can be easily multiplied for a bigger crowd.

Ingredients


1 lb fresh white fish filets (cod, halibut, sea bass...)
1 batch chimichurri sauce (below)
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1 matzo cracker sheet, broken to pieces, or 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh chives to garnish

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place fish filets on a baking sheet and rub with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Spread chimichurri sauce on top of filets, and top with the thinly sliced shallot.  Sprinkle matzo crumbles or bread crumbs on top.

Bake until filets are flaky and and opaque throughout.  10-20 minutes, depending on thickness of the
filets.

Chimichurri Sauce
The dry spice mix we used was already blended, and was made of up dried oregano, dried parsley, granulated garlic, and red pepper flakes.  All dry mixes will vary, so either taste yours before using and manipulate it to your liking, or mix your own!  Alternatively, you can also make a fresh herb version using all of the same ingredients, just double the amount as the dry herbs are more intense in flavor than the fresh.


Ingredients


2 tablespoons dry chimichurri spice mix
2 teaspoons freshly minced chives
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
pinch salt
red pepper flakes, to taste

Method
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and use on anything!  You can omit the tomato paste and use that version as a serving sauce as well.

Lemon Shallot Rice


Ingredients
2 cups cooked white rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Pepper
Minced fresh chives to garnish
Lemon Wedges

Method
Heat a medium sized saute pan over a medium flame.  Add butter and oil.  Once the butter melts, add the shallots.

Saute until fragrant and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and stir for 1 minute.  Stir in rice to coat.

Pour lemon juice over rice and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Plate the rice in the shape of the filets to act as a bed for the fish.  Garish with fresh chives and serve with a big honkin' wedge of lemon.





Guaca-churri


Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 tablespoon chimichurri sauce (recipe above)
Splash of red wine vinegar
Salt, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste

Method 
Mash the avocado in a bowl and mix in all of the rest of the ingredients.