A Floribbean Culinary Detour



Other Cuisines

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marga@lacabe.com

I came cross Floribbean cuisine while researching its Floridian cousin. A fusion of Caribbean, Asian and Latin American flavors, Floribbean, this cuisine has been developing in Florida for over a century. It seems to be more at home at restaurants than in homes, and seems to be more characterized by innovation and experimentation with these global flavors than with consistency. I thus had more difficulty than I anticipated finding Floribbean recipes to make at home online.

I finally decided on:

Tri-tip Roast with Chimichurri Verde


Tri-tip Roast with Chimichurri Verde


Let me start by being totally honest: tri-tip is not a Floribbean cut. While it's eaten in Argentina and other Latin American countries, in the US it's really most popular in California. Here (California) is one of those cuts that regularly goes on sale - and given the price of meat lately (2022), it's one I'm eager to use whenever possible. So when I came across the Floribbean recipe for churrasco with chimichurri verde, which called for skirt steak, I decided to make it with tri-tip instead. You can, of course, make it with skirt steak, flank steak or any other steak of your choice - you will have to adjust the cooking time, however.

I hesitated at first before making a dish of Argentinian origins - chimichurri is an Argentian sauce -, but this chimichurri is different enough from a classic Argentinian one, as to qualify - in my view - as a Floribbean version.

The resulting steak was very good. I roasted it rather than grill it, as my grill is out of gas at the moment, but I'm sure it would have been even better grilled.

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Tri-tip Roast with Chimichurri Verde

Ingredients

    For the marinade

  • 1 cup chopped parsley
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 6 - 8 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 Tbsp Spanish sherry vinegar
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp cayenne

    For the roast

  • 1 2lb tri-tip roast, trimmed
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Place roast in a container large enough to fit it and pour 3/4th of the marinade over it, making sure it covers the whole surface. Marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour and reserve the rest of the sauce.

Preheat oven or grill to 400°F.

Heat olive oil over high heat in a large frying or saute pan. Add the roast and sear on both sides. Transfer the roast to the grill and cook, covered, for 20-25 minutes, or place in a broiling pan and roast for 20-25 minutes for medium-rare. Serve with reserved chimichurri.


Adapted from Norman Van Aken's recipe at the Christian Science Monitor

Ethnic American cuisines: American, Acadians, African-American, Amish, Appalachian, Cal-Mex, Cajun, Creole, Cuban-American, Floribbean, German-American, Hungarian-American, Irish-American, Italian-American, Jewish American, K-Mex, Korean-American

See also Floridian, Argentinian cuisines.

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