These four globally-inspired marinades from the 2020 Beef + Lamb New Zealand ambassador chefs are easily made but are guaranteed to up your barbecue game.
The 2020 ambassador chefs for Beef and Lamb New Zealand Phil Clark, Norka Mella Munoz, Jack Crosti, and Tejas Nikam share their favourite meat marinades.
Chimichurri
This sauce, from Norka Mella Munoz at Havelock North’s Mangapapa Hotel,can be used to either marinate your favourite cut of beef or lamb before grilling or barbecuing it or you can double up and serve as an accompaniment on the side. Try it on a butterflied leg of lamb or a beef scotch fillet for a special but relaxed meal.
Makes 2 cups to serve 4-6
1 cup coriander, finely chopped
½ cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
40ml white vinegar
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 pinch cumin powder
1 pinch coriander powder
1 cup sunflower oil
1 pinch chilli flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and leave to sit for at least an hour in the fridge, ideally overnight, before serving as a sauce or before grilling or barbecuing meat when used as a marinade.
Spiced barbecue lamb chops
These chops, from Tejas Nikam at Vices & Virtues in Christchurch, are best cooked over a charcoal barbecue for a natural smoky flavour. Serve with a mint yoghurt and lime wedges and your favourite sides. Scotch fillet or sirloin steak would also be good with the spicy marinade.
Serves 4
¾ cup Greek yogurt, unsweetened
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp ginger garlic paste (or 1 Tbsp crushed garlic and 1 Tbsp crushed ginger)
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp paprika, smoked if available
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, optional
1 Tbsp finely chopped coriander, including stems
1 tsp salt
10-12 lamb chops, shoulder or loin work well
3 Tbsp clarified butter, melted (plus another 3 Tbsp for cooking)
- In a large bowl, whisk the yoghurt with lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, garam masala, cumin, paprika, nutmeg (if using), coriander and salt.
- Using a paring knife, cut a few 1/4-inch-deep slashes in each lamb chop before coating in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Take the chops out at least an hour before cooking to bring to room temperature.
- Add 3 tablespoons of melted clarified butter to the marinade and toss with the lamb chops. Heat a grill or barbecue until hot and cook over a moderately high heat for 4 minutes on each side, turning once, until well browned. Melt the remainder of the clarified butter and baste both sides of the lamb chops during cooking.
Salsa asada
This marinade, from Jack Crosti at Auckland’s Number 5 restaurant,works well on either beef or lamb. Coat a whole beef fillet or 10-12 lamb shoulder chops to serve 4-6.
1kg heirloom tomatoes, quartered
1 jalapeno chilli, whole
3 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
20g ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
50g coriander leaves
50g extra virgin olive oil
½ brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 Tbsp lime juice
- Preheat the oven to 220C and line a tray with baking paper.
- In a suitable bowl mix all the ingredients except half of the lime juice.
- Bake in the oven until a nice caramelisation is reached, stirring the mixture every 10 minutes. Don't worry if the edges of the vegetables turn black as this will give a nice smoky touch tothe final marinade. When cooked, rest until the mixture is cold.
- Using a blender, blitz the cooked vegetables with the remaining lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Generously coat your favourite cut of beef or lamb and leave to rest overnight in the fridge.
Kiwi sweet and sour barbecue marinade
Vegemite brings a familiar umami boost to this sweet and sour marinade from Phil Clark of Auckland’s Phil’s Kitchen, Auckland. The marinade works well on scotch or sirloin steak and works particularly well on beef ribs.
Makes 1 cup
2 Tbsp vegemite
100ml balsamic vinegar
100ml olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
1 tsp cracked pepper
2 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and marinade your favourite cut of beef or lamb for 24 hours in the fridge before grilling on the barbecue.