Sluttishly Savoury: Septima and Steak

When I was offered the chance of sampling a fantastic new Argentinian wine and a couple of big, juicy sirloin steaks I almost fell off my chair. The lovely people at Bodega Septima delivered two beautiful Argentine steaks and a bottle of Septima Malbec to my door on Friday evening by refrigerated courier!! (the steak not the courier, he was very cool though...). So Friday night was sorted and I set to work on the wine and steaks.

I love a good steak and every couple of weeks I feel like I need a pure, red meat injection, I’m convinced it is good for you, full of iron and good, meaty protein. However I really don’t think you should mess about too much with a nice cut of steak, there is nothing better than a big, juicy, slab of rare meat simply cooked and coupled with a fine glass of red wine. Septima Malbec (2009) is a heady red wine from Argentina, it is full bodied and full of ripe, purple berry fruit notes and is the perfect companion to steak.

As I don’t like to mess about with steak too much I rustled up a little Chimmichurri sauce to go with it, this is Argentinean like the wine and steak. Recipes for Chimmichurri seem to vary considerably from chef to chef. It’s very much like a spicy salsa verde and can combine all sorts of wonderful herbs and spices.

This recipe is my take on what is considered a staple, table sauce in Argentina. It's a punchy little number that has since become a little addiction for me. It is great with steak but equally delicious with all kinds of meats, in fact I even started dipping crisps in it towards the end of the night because I was so hooked on the piquant, herb filled, spicy sauce. The wine worked brilliantly with the sauce and steak, it stood up to the spices and bold flavours and is definitely a bottle I shall be looking out for on the shop shelves in future.

Chimmichurri Sauce

Serves 2

You'll need:

• A handful of fresh oregano
• A handful of fresh parsley
• 1 shallot
• 1 large garlic clove
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 1/2 a long red chilli
• 1/4 of a red pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1 pinch of sugar
• salt and pepper

Make it!

Roughly chop your vegetables and herbs. Blitz all the ingredients together in a processor or with a hand blender. Serve with a pan fried steak and fresh, oven baked, paprika spiced wedges and a little salad. This sauce keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.


I thoroughly enjoyed my taste or two or three or.... OK, well lets just say that Septima Malbec 2009 is a very drinkable wine, smooth, smoky and ripe with cherry and blackberry accents and you can buy it for £7.49 from Wine Rack.