A Chimichurri to Shout About!

Traditional Chimchurri (to the best of my knowledge :)
* 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
* 1 bunch cilantro
* 8 cloves garlic, minced
* 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup red wine, sherry or apple cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Hard to express just how incredible this traditional Argentinian "salsa" is... Not one to stray too far from my beloved Mexican sauces, I'm hard pressed to choose between a classic Mexican fresh salsa, pico de gallo or this classic Argentinian Chimichurri.  Truth is, this light, fresh marinade is so good one could be tempted to just throw it back, shot-style. But that would be poor manners, indeed! Still... you may be tempted so if you use it for a marinade, it is traditional to reserve half for serving table side along with you rmeal.  I've eaten Mexican salsa, hot sauce, pico, you name it, my whole life and I had never had chimichurri until we were served this as a table-side sauce at an Argentinian restaurant in Florida.  Long story short: I fell in love with it. 

Traditional American salsas (yes, folks, Mexico is still America!) and chips are the bread and butter of North Americans today. We may not be Mexican, but at heart, we can dig into some chips and dip, depending on where you hail from.  Chips and salsa, chips-n-dip, chips and hot sauce, whatever you call it, this one will become a regular at your table once you see how versatile and easy it is to make yourself! Truly a recipe I went on the hunt for and have used ever since.  Because the consistency is somewhat more liquid than our salsas, it is best suited as a dressing or marinade, but as I said, one could, theoretically drink it and really enjoy it! :)  You'll see what I mean...

And because I have used this recipe so extensively, I have a few variations based on what the garden is presently producing.  Just as every household has its own recipe for salsa, you will eventually modify this recipe for your tastes, too.   Or at least I hope you do! I didn't have parsley handy, so I used the flowering stalks of shallots and it was amazing. More like a shallot pesto, but totally and completely inspired by Argentina grilling. And, of course, Chimichurri. Time to get your chimi on, friends...

Shallot Chimichurri
* 1 bunch of shallot flower stalks
* 2 tablespoons Mirin or rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons White Balsamic vinegar
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Additional Flavorings for Traditional Chimichurri
Additional flavorings such as red onion, hot chili, paprika (pimenton dulce), oregano, cumin, thyme, cilantro (coriander leaf), lemon, and bay leaf (laurel), and in the red version, tomato and red bell pepper may also be added to the traditional recipe to create a flavor profile unique to your dish. Experiment and see what is your favorite addition and go ahead, be brave, try a few of your favorite herbs and spices to make it even more complimentary to your meal.

Cherry Okara Bran "Mountain" Muffins

I'm a huge bran muffin fan. Raisin Bran muffins and I go way back.  When all the kids wanted chocolate chip muffins or the ones with blueberries on top, I wanted the ones with Raisin Bran. 

At Costco, you used to be able to get massive raisin bran muffins and these were a staple until about two weeks ago when I interrupted the bakers in the back to ask them when we were to expect the bran muffins to start filling the huge aluminum racks that were packed with all kinds of other muffins. No offense to those tempting treats but I needed a muffin suited for breakfast, my kind of breakfast. Not the kind of breakfast suited to doing 500 laps around the parking lot or so I thought. Much to my dismay, the baker yelled back that they are being discontinued.  "But! These! are the ONLY ones you don't need to go for counseling after you guiltily consume one all by yourself," I whined back rather loudly and with a little more force than perhaps I wanted. (I was hungry!)  The Baker came closer to me and said, "you know... none of these muffins are really all that good for you, if you know what I mean."  I scowled deeply, refusing to face the truth of the matter. "But still... that's lame... right?" I meekly responded.  She just smiled and winked, knowingly.

And so, what I had known all along, finally gripped me by the belly pretty tight... I had to make them myself, like everything else in life; if I wanted to really KNOW that bran muffins were as good for me as I suspected they really could be, then I would have to embark on this educational experience forthright.

That is how I stumbled upon Okara Mountain. One woman's need to use her heaps of Okara has led to her blog, a blog very specific to the purpose at hand. I've been to Okara Mountain, figuratively speaking. I have my own Mountain and I too, feel rather guilty adding this healthy bi-product of soy milk to the compost heap. Ah, the pressures to be green really do weigh ya down sometimes, I mused with my own knowing grin... I could recognize a fellow Okie from Soy-Land.  I, too, have a burning need to use my Okara since we make our own soy milk and so far, I've done a pretty darn good job of it. So much so, that one of my cherished bffs will look at me with a very suspicious eye when I offer her anything from my kitchen and ask, "does this have beans in it?" To which I reply even when it isn't true, "OF COURSE, dahling!" Gotta luv the leery people and of course, you gotta mess with em just a bit! And so, it dawned on me that my Craisin Okara Cereal Bread recipe was truly just a few modifications away from being a truly spectacular Okara Bran Muffin.  I was so close to really tackling this Mountain; nirvana was at hand and this could just be the one recipe to get me over the proverbial Okara Hump.

Here is my rough start:
Okara from a batch of soy milk (~3 cups of "wet" Okara)
1.5 cups wheat bran
1.5 cups of Eagle Mills Unbleached White Flour MultiGrain
2 tsp vanilla
.5 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
.5 cup golden flax seed
1-2 cups of dried cherries or raisins, whatever floats your bran boat
1 cup of unsweetened apple sauce (that's what I forgot this morning, doh!)
1 1/8th tsp baking soda
3 3/8ths tsp baking powder (these two measurements combined equal the rising power of 3 tbsp of baking powder!)
1 stick of organic butter
1 large organic egg

Now that I write it out today, I know what I did wrong this morning. I was tired and sorta missed a key step by leaving out the apple sauce accidentally. I've worked this recipe now many times. The first, I did just like I do my Okara Cereal bread but that calls for 2 sticks of butter and 2 eggs. Great, but I thought I can surely do better cutting out more fat and using way less sugar.  The recipe above reduces the 2 sticks of butter to 1 by replacing half the butter with 1 cup of apple sauce.  I made my own apple sauce last weekend just to try out this theory and it totally worked.  Okara itself is said to be a replacement for eggs and/or oil so I tested this theory and left out an egg, which worked just fine. Now, if I only would have followed my own recipe it would have been perfect. I haven't tried the ones from this morning yet but they don't look as full as my first few batches. I know why. I left out the 3 tsps of baking powder(got the 3/8ths in and obviously got distracted from finishing the task!) and totally forgot the apple sauce. What a dodo!  I bet they'll still taste good though. We'll see tomorrow. Regardless of whether you are making soy milk and subsequent muffins in your sleep, like I obviously was doing this morning, it is still more than likely that your foray into Okara baking will not be stifled by a few glitches. Onward young Okara Soldiers!

If you try them, be a doll, post back and let me know how they turned out for you and by all means, swing by this gal's Okara Mountain blog for more awesome ideas on so many wonderful things to try with Okara! Thank you, Toontz, for being an inspiration!