Sensational Steak Dinner With Greek(ish) Potatos and Chimi Churi

This post started as a way to introduce you to a really yummy new potato dish that we recently tried. It has evolved into a whole meal.

This potato dish came from Robin Miller off of a show on the Food Network. Sorry, I don't remember which one. She calls it Potatoes with Onions, Olives and Tomatoes. I'm too lazy to say that many words when my family wants to know what's for supper. So, I call it Greek(ish) Potatoes. Here's what you need.

Greek(ish) Potatoes:
6 small or 4 medium red potatoes, halved (or quartered if potatoes are slightly bigger)
1/2 c. pitted Greek (kalamata) olives
1/2 c. diced, ripe tomatoes
1/4 c. minced red onion
1 1/2 TBSP. chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp. dried
salt and ground black pepper

Place potatoes in a saucepan and pour over enough water to cover by about 2 inches. Set pan over high heat and bring water to a boil. Boil 8 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender. Drain.

In a large bowl, add your chopped tomatoes.

Then your kalamata olives. Ooooh, these are sooo good!

And red onion.

Then your nice, warm potatoes.

Add a little of your fresh thyme. Or, you can use dried if you don't have fresh.

Dress it up with some oil and vinegar.

Toss is all together like a big party in a bowl! Voila! It's Greek(ish) Potatoes. These are so easy and so delish that your tongue will want to dance when you bite into it. I promise. They're that good!

Next came the bread. I had a frozen loaf in the freezer. You know, the kind that you set out and let rise while it thaws? I forgot to set it out in time for it to be ready by dinner. I had to get creative. So, I tweaked my quick pizza crust recipe to make this focaccia(ish) bread. (Ish) is my new word of the post! I needed a dense bread for the chimi churri (Don't worry. It's coming!) and this worked beautifully.

Focaccia(ish) Bread:

1 c. plus 2 TBSP. warm water

2 1/2 tsp. yeast

2 TBSP. olive oil

2 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

flax seeds (optional)

In your mixing bowl, add warm water, salt, sugar and yeast. Let sit a couple of minutes until it's bubbly. Add in the remaining ingredients. Mix on low speed until it's all incorporated. Then mix on #2 speed for 2 minutes. The dough should spring back when touched. Let it sit for 2 minutes.

Roll out and place on 1 cookie sheet. It will be thicker than pizza crust. Mine also didn't go to the edges of the cookie pan. I pressed my finger into the dough to make indentations all over it and then slightly pricked it with a fork.

Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes. Slice into squares and plate it up.

Next up is the Chimi Churri and don't let it's picture fool you. This is one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. And I've had a lot of food enter my mouth. My family actually craves this stuff.

Back years ago, in Florida, our good friends, Mauro and Paula, made this to go with dinner one night. Mauro was born in Argentina and raised in Australia. I think he said that this is a dish that he had been eating since his boyhood in Argentina. I think there are several versions, but why mess with perfection?

Chimi Churri:

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

salt and pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar - all to taste

Mauro chops his parsley and garlic by hand. I'm just lazy enough to throw the parsley and garlic together in the food processor and chop it together that way. Then I add a little salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and blend it up while it's still in the food processor. This is one of those things that you just season to your liking. I always make at least a double batch, many times even more. It's great on steak, burgers, bread and probably many other types of meat. We never make steak without this to go with it.

Here it is dipped onto the bread. The juice that is on the plate is great for sopping up with your bread, too. Mmmm....

OK. I didn't take pictures of the steaks marinating. So, sue me. Usually, I marinate them in Italian dressing. I tried something different this time. In the lavender gift basket I received recently, there was a tin of lavender and sea salt culinary blend. I wanted to try that.

I used rib eyes this time. I simply sprinkled some fresh ground pepper on the raw steaks, followed by a little of the lavender and sea salt blend. I let it set for about 20 minutes before I grilled them to our liking.

I was really impressed with the flavor and will definitely do this again. It gave the meat a really complex flavor that was simply scrumptious. It didn't really taste like flowers, but you could slightly detect the lavender if you were looking for it.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed this post and found a thing or two that you will consider trying in the future.

Have a great weekend!