Chermoula is a dressing or condiment that spans across continents. Another name for essentially the same thing is Chimichurri. Chermoula is North African and Chimichurri is Argentinian.

Can’t you tell the North Africans were in Spain for a while….

My version hews closer to the North African version. The Argentinians tend to make theirs a little less aromatic and do not use cumin and sometimes add in roasted red peppers. This one has the cumin and some cayenne instead of red pepper flakes and I have used them interchangeably.

Ingredients

• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix them well and let it sit. The flavours take awhile to blend together. An hour or two is good, but it gets better the next day. An aside here is that I have used lemon juice in this rendition but feel free to substitute with red wine vinegar. In fact if I am going to use it as a condiment with a steak, the sharper flavor of red wine vinegar is better