Sluttishly Simple: Chimichurri

Chimichurri is an Argentinian sauce, most commonly served with steak (the Argentinians know what goes well with steak - so when they say chimichurri, we listen. Intently).

It's a parsley-based sauce (if you're not keen on parsley, try it with coriander - you'll end up with mojo verde, a Canarian sauce). You can fiddle about with the quantities - if you love garlic, add more; if you want HEAT, throw in extra chilli. Tweak as you go and put your own spin on it.

Chimichurri doesn't just go brilliantly with steak, of course - try it with chicken, fish, and veggies. It's fabulous drizzled over a chilli, too.

Not only is this delicious, it's incredibly easy and quick to make - mere minutes, possibly even seconds. Let's go.

Chimichurri (makes 250ml)
You will need:

• 2 large handfuls of flat-leaf parsley, as few stalks as possible
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 small shallot, peeled and quartered
• 150ml olive oil
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Juice, zest and pulp of ½ an unwaxed lemon
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Make it!

1. In a food processor, chop the parsley, garlic, and shallot (if you don't have a food processor or hand blender, just finely chop these ingredients).
2. Transfer to a bowl and add everything else - that's the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon, chilli, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir well (don't blend or whizz in the food processor now, though - we don't want this to be baby-food smooth, just sauce-like).
3. Taste, and add more of anything you, um, want more of. 
4. Use your chimichurri as a sauce or marinade - it'll last for about a week in an airtight jar in the fridge.
5. Watch this, because let's face it, you've been humming it since the beginning of the recipe. 

Chim-chim-chimichurriiiiiiiii...

Sluttishly Savoury: Chestnut and Jerusalem Artichoke Veloutè

Jerusalem artichokes are one of the best things about winter. They're weird, knobbly little things and they add an extra level of spice to stews and soups. This is such a simple dish that brings out the best of them. You can serve it as a soup or as a sauce. It'll go brilliant with chicken.

Chestnut and Jerusalem Artichoke Veloutè You'll need:

• 6 large Jerusalem artichokes
• juice of 1 lemon
• 100g cooked peeled chestnuts
• large knob unsalted butter
• 550ml chicken stock
• 350ml milk
• salt and pepper
• drizzle of extra virgin or truffle oil to finish

Make it!

1. Peel and roughly chop the artichokes and put them in a bowl of water and lemon juice to stop them going brown. Roughly chop your chestnuts.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan then add your pieces of artichoke and cook gently on a low heat until they soften and start to caramelise.
3. Add the stock, milk and chopped chestnuts then heat until just starting to boil then remove from the heat and blend using a stick blender or food processor. Taste and season.
4. Strain through a sieve so that it's all smooth and velvety then blend again making sure you get plenty of air into it so it's light and fluffy then serve drizzled with some great oil.