Ingredients
| 1 teaspoon salt | |
| ½ teaspoon chilli flakes | |
| ½ cup dill, finely chopped | |
| ½ cup coriander, finely chopped | |
| ½ cup parsley, finely chopped | |
| 6 cloves garlic, 4 kept whole, 2 crushed | |
| 2 limes | |
| 4 tablespoons sherry or white wine vinegar | |
| 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil | |
| 50g butter | |
| 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs | |
| 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika | |
| 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground | |
| ½ teaspoon dried oregano | |
| 2 ancho chillies | |
| 4 chipotle or other smoked mild dried chilli | |
| 3 tablespoons olive oil | |
| 1½ kg new potatoes or small waxy potatoes | |
| 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt | |
| 1 small red onion | |
| 1 red capsicum | |
| 1 large fresh red chilli | |
| 1 tomato, finely chopped | |
| 4–6 crayfish tails (about 1.2kg in total) |
Asado is the national dish of Argentina and is usually a full-on meat-fest. But many other ingredients lend themselves beautifully to barbecuing and go well with chimichurri, the herby condiment that accompanies asado. For a celebration, what could be more perfect than crayfish? I have used the beautiful and sustainable crayfish tails from Chatham Islands Food Co (you can order them in advance as they come frozen). This recipe is also great with any other seafood or even barbecued chicken or vegetables if crayfish is not your thing. I love to braise new potatoes as they take on so much flavour. For the salad it is best to cook the potatoes the day before so all the chilli flavours meld and mellow overnight.
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Instructions
| 1. | For the chimichurri, bring ¼ cup of water to the boil, mix in the salt and stir to dissolve. |
| 2. | Add the chilli flakes and set aside to cool. |
| 3. | Mix the dill, coriander and parsley and set aside ¼ cup of herbs to serve. |
| 4. | Place the remaining herbs along with the crushed garlic and zest of one lime (reserve the flesh of the lime) in a bowl and whisk in 2 tablespoons of the vinegar, the extra virgin olive oil and finally the chilli-salt water. |
| 5. | The chimichurri keeps for 1 week in the fridge. |
| 6. | For the crumb, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. |
| 7. | Add the breadcrumbs and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. |
| 8. | Add the paprika, ground coriander and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes more until golden and toasted. |
| 9. | Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. |
| 10. | For the braised chilli potato salad, core, deseed and finely slice the ancho and chipotle chillies. |
| 11. | Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based casserole dish over a medium heat and add the potatoes. |
| 12. | Using your knife, crush the whole garlic cloves, discard the skins and add to the potatoes along with the salt and dried chillies. |
| 13. | Stir well, turn the heat to very low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour (more if your potatoes are larger) or until tender. |
| 14. | This can be done a day in advance and served at room temperature. |
| 15. | When ready to serve, slice the red onion into very fine strips and put into a bowl of cold water. |
| 16. | Leave for 10 minutes, then drain well. |
| 17. | Slice the capsicum and fresh chilli into fine strips and add to the onion along with the chopped tomato, the remaining 2 tablespoons of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. |
| 18. | Carefully cut away all the skin and pith from both limes, then dice the flesh, add to the bowl with the capsicum-tomato mixture and toss gently. |
| 19. | Leave for about 30 minutes, stirring once. |
| 20. | Bring the potatoes to room temperature or warm a little. |
| 21. | Cut each crayfish tail in half and lay cut-side up on a tray. |
| 22. | Drizzle with a little of the chimichurri and set aside. |
| 23. | Heat a barbecue grill plate or frying pan to hot and grill the crayfish for about 3 minutes on the shell side until turning pink, then flip and cook for about another 2–3 minutes or until just cooked. |
| 24. | Arrange the potatoes on a platter and scatter over the capsicum-tomato mixture. |
| 25. | Top with the crayfish tails and scatter with the crumb and reserved herbs, and serve with chimichurri. |
| 26. | Alternatively, plate the crayfish and serve the potato salad alongside. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith / Photography Tony Nyberg / Styling Fiona Lascelles
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