Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Grace Foods in which I have been monetarily compensated. Thank you for supporting the brands I love, as they help me keep my blog running. The opinions in the post are entirely my own.
Jamaican Style Steak and Chimichurri with Jerk Potatoes- oh my!
Learn to make an incredible Jamaican style steak, a callaloo chimichurri sauce, and spicy jerk potatoes! The 3 full recipes highlight Jamaican and Caribbean flavours using Grace Foods seasoning and products.
The grilled AAA NY steak uses Grace Ginger Garlic Pimento seasoning; the refreshing chimichurri sauce features Grace Callaloo; and the spicy roasted potatoes uses Grace Hot Jerk Seasoning. Read on as I will go through the techniques and tips for each dish.
Talk to me about Grace Foods (aka Grace)
Grace Foods is an iconic food and beverage company that started back in 1922 as small traders in Jamaica and has grown their entity since. They have been providing authentic Jamaican and Caribbean flavours and products in Canadian homes for over 30 years! Grace also caters to the Latin market through its LaFe brand including frozen products.
Growing up, Grace coconut water, jerk seasoning, coconut milk, and their hot pepper sauce was a staple! Grace products can readily be found across Canada at large and independent grocery stores including many Asian and West Indian markets.
I was gifted a box of Grace products and was amazed to see products that I haven’t seen before. Did you know Grace had honey, canned young jackfruit, and coconut vinegar? Amazing! Their list of products is massive including an organic and natural line, sauces, seasonings, drinks and snacks.
Check out Grace Foods website https://gracefoods.ca/ for their full product listing and where to buy the products.
Inspiration for the Jamaican flavours!
I love Jamaican cuisine and have had my fair share of the dishes during my visit to Jamaica, restaurants in Toronto, and also home-cooked meals from my classmates in grade school. Some of my favourite dishes include oxtail and gravy, jerk chicken, and ackee and saltfish!
My Chinese inlaws were raised in Trinidad, which means that I am lucky to enjoy both Chinese and Caribbean dishes often. Drawing from what I love about Caribbean flavours, the Jamaican style steak and chimichurri with a side of the jerk potatoes will wow you with every bite!
Grace Foods makes cooking at home with kids fun and delicious!
On the positive side of staying at home during the pandemic is the opportunity for my kids to help out in the kitchen more often. The older one is comfortable using a small knife, so she is often my mini sous-chef. With my guidance, my girls helped add the Grace seasoning to the steak and potatoes and prepared the herbs for the chimichurri.
Our family loved sporting our beautiful red Grace caps and aprons, and really had a blast cooking while singing to our favourite tunes. We also took breaks to enjoy the plantain chips and Grace Tropical Rhythms fruit punch!
Check out the other home cooks and chefs who are also cooking with Grace Foods with their family, and enter to win “Cooking with kids survival kits” at http://gracefoods.ca/cooking-with-kids/.
Talk to me about flavours, products and techniques in each Caribbean dish!
Jamaican Style Steak
The steak is easy to prepare and only uses a handful of ingredients. The AAA NY strip loin is seasoned with Grace Ginger Garlic Pimento and Grace Ground Black Pepper. The ginger flavour is most prevalent in the Ginger Garlic Pimento seasoning when tasting the seasoning on its own.
However, adding it to the steak gives it a subtle ginger essence that complements the potatoes and chimichurri.
The steak is air-dried in the fridge uncovered overnight to absorb the seasoning, and help dry out some of the moisture in the steak to concentrate the meat flavour. Before searing it on the grill, the steak is seasoned with salt. The outcome is a mouth-watering tender steak! Feel free to change up the steak based on what you can get your hands on.
Jamaican Style Chimichurri
The Jamaican style chimichurri is a must in this dish, as it provides a lightness to the steak and spicy potatoes.
Chimichurri is a green condiment originated in South America that is typically eaten with grilled meats. The ingredients of chimichurri ranges by region and typically includes cilantro and/or parsley, garlic, oil, and hot peppers.
The Jamaican style chimichurri is refreshing with the right amount of acidity and has a kick from the bird’s eye chili. Aside from flat-leaf parsley as the base, Grace Foods Callaloo is the star of the sauce. The callaloo provides more texture and depth (and nutrients!) to the sauce than if the sauce was only made with parsley as the base. Also, the addition of scallions gives the sauce its distinct flavour and another popular ingredient in Jamaican cuisine. The callaloo plus the scallions provide a nice green hue to the sauce, and results in a mouth-watering condiment! I add this sauce to everything!
More about callaloo!
Callaloo is a popular vegetable dish in the Caribbean. The callaloo leaves are typically amaranth, taro or Xanthosoma (aka Elephant Ears). Each country and region in the Caribbean will have their take on the preparation and ingredients to make the callaloo dish.
For the chimichurri, I love that the callaloo is in a brine that is already chopped, which means that there is little preparation work. All I have to do is drain the callaloo and pulse the vegetable in the food processor. The taste and texture of the chopped callaloo are most comparable to collard greens.
What is coconut vinegar?
I also used Grace Foods organic Coconut Vinegar in the chimichurri for the acidity, along with fresh lemon juice. Grace Organic Coconut Vinegar is created by the fermentation of 100% pure coconut water. The vinegar provides a needed sharpness to the sauce to brighten it up. If you cannot find the coconut vinegar, apple cider or white wine vinegar is a good substitute.
How to create a chunky chimichurri?
The texture of chimichurri is subjective and you may want it more like a paste, or super chunky. The taste can also vary, as you may like your chimichurri extra sour, or salty. My chimichurri has a balance of sour, salty, garlic, and spicy notes. I added one bird’s eye chili with the seeds to create a mild kick to the sauce. Feel free to add more chilis, or spicier chilis to up the spice levels to your liking.
To create a chunky chimichurri sauce, do use a food processor or hand chop the ingredients. Using a blender will result in a sauce-like consistency. If using a food processor, add the garlic, scallions, and parsley including the stems first to chop until your desired consistency. Once the callaloo is added in, only do a few pulses to mix the ingredients together, so that the leaves stay chunky.
The chimichurri can be made ahead of time, and keeps well in the fridge in an airtight container.
Jerk Potatoes
The crispy roasted jerk potatoes are incredible and showcase Grace Foods Hot Jerk Seasoning. The ingredients in the jerk seasoning include escallion (scallion) mash, scotch bonnet peppers, and spices.
To prepare, I parboiled the potatoes with the skin on, which helps the potatoes roast evenly and also helps to crisp up the potatoes. The potatoes are tossed in a bowl with Grace Jerk Seasoning, oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme leaves. The addictive potatoes are really an explosion of flavours! Make sure to have some Grace Coconut Water around as the potatoes are spiiicccy!
Recipes for the Jamaican Style Steak, Jamaican Style Chimichurri, and the Jerk Potatoes
Jamaican Style Steak
Ingredients
- 2 (1.5 pounds) AAA NY Striploin, about 1 inch thick
- ⅛ cup of avocado oil, or oil of choice (have more handy)
- 2 tsp. Grace Ginger Garlic Pimento Seasoning
- 2 tsp. Grace Ground Black Pepper
- Salt, to season
Instructions
Brush both sides of the steak with a thin layer of oil. Season each side of the steak with Grace Ginger Garlic Pimento seasoning, followed by Grace Ground Black Pepper. Refridgerate the steak overnight uncovered.
Take out the steak about one hour before grilling to allow the steak to get to room temperature. Season both sides of the steak with salt.
Heat up the grill to 500 degrees F. Place the steaks on the grill and cook to desired doneness. About 3 minutes per side for medium rare. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes.
Cut to desired size and serve.
Recipe Notes
Cooking times will vary. The steak can be cooked in a pan as well.
Jamaican Style Chimichurri
Ingredients
- 1 (540 ml) can of Grace Callaloo
- 1 bird's eye chili with seeds, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 cups (70 g) flat leaf parsley including stems
- 2 (35 g) scallion stalks, including white parts, roots removed
- ⅛ cup lemon juice plus zests (about half a lemon)
- ⅛ cup Grace Coconut Vinegar
- ½ cup avocado oil, or oil of choice have more handy for drizzling
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. Grace Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
Drain a can of Grace Callaloo into a colander. Squeeze as much liquid from the callaloo with your hands and discard the liquid.
Slice the bird's eye chili.
Using a food processor, add the garlic, parsley with stems, and scallions, and pulse until finely chopped.
Add lemon juice plus zests, Grace Coconut Vinegar, oil, salt and Grace Ground Black Pepper. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are mixed in.
Add callaloo and sliced chilis, and pulse one or two times to roughly chop the ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Add the chimichurri into a bowl. Drizzle with oil before serving.
Recipe Notes
Have more salt, lemon juice, and oil handy to adjust the seasoning and texture.
Remove the seeds from the chili for a milder sauce.
Spicy Roasted Jerk Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 (2 pounds) yellow flesh potatoes
- 2 cups water, have more handy
- ¼ cup of avocado oil, or oil of choice
- 2 tsp. Grace Hot Jerk Seasoning
- ½ tsp. Grace Ground Black Pepper
- 2 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, reserve half
Instructions
Parboil the potatoes
Using an Instant pot, add the steaming trivet, and add enough water until it reaches the top of the trivet. Add the potatoes on top of the trivet. Close the lid and make sure the lid is on "sealing". Press the “steam button” and manually change the timer to 7 minutes. When the timer is up, turn the knob to "venting" and do a quick release. Open the lid and remove the potatoes. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Alternatively, boil the potatoes in a pot until they are soft on the outside and still slightly undercooked on the inside.
Roast the potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, add oil, Grace Hot Jerk Seasoning, Grace Ground Black Pepper, salt, and half of the thyme leaves. Mix.
Toss the potatoes in the bowl and mix until they are fully coated. Spread the potatoes evenly on a sheet pan.
Cook the potatoes for 45 mins. At the 25 minute mark, toss in the remaining thyme leaves and flip the potatoes.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and serve.
Recipe Notes
For a milder spice, add 1 tsp. of Grace jerk seasoning to the potatoes.
Follow Grace on social media:
- Website: https://gracefoods.ca/
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- Facebook: gracefoods
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- Hashtags: #CookingWithGraceCa #CookingWithKids, #EatingInWithGraceCa
Make sure to check out my other recipes on my blog including my Air Fry Chicken recipe. Follow me on Instagram @maryshappybelly.
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