Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Asian style seared fillet of beef salad with chilli and crushed peanuts


This is the starter I made for Valentine's day this year. I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve based on various recipes....one from the Martha Stewart website, another from a Ken Hom cookery book and another from Rick Steins South East Asian Odyssey cookbook, but I didn't have all the ingredients to hand for any one recipe. So this is what I came up with...sorry, no exact measurments! You can find the Main course I served here.

INGREDIENTS for Beef
  • piece of beef fillet (about the size of your palm), sliced very thinly
  • good glug of sesame oil
  • couple good pinches of five spice powder
  • 3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • good glug of dark soy sauce
  • Inch of ginger, not peeled, finely chopped
  • tsp of sugar
  • tsp of fresh coarsly ground pepper
  • 1 red chilli, finely chopped
  • pinch of salt
FOR THE SALAD and dressing
  • Mixed salad leaves - I used a mixture of Watercress, rocket, spinach and basil
  • dessert spoon of red wine vinegar
  • couple tsps of sesame oil
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
FOR THE TOPPING
  • Handful of crushed peanuts
  • a couple of spring onions, sliced into thin strips
METHOD
  • mix all the ingredients in a bowl and leave to marinate for around 20 mins
  • heat a wok until almost smoking, then add some vegetable oil to the wok and flash fry the beef - seriously, no more than 20 secs. If you have bought good quality beef this is the perfect amount of time
  • remove beef from the pan and set aside
  • mix ingredients for dressing, taste as you go and adjust amounts until you get the right balance of flavours
  • put salad leaves in a bowl and drizzle in dressing, mixing to coat well
  • Put salad on a plate, top with the beef, then dress with the spring onion slices and the crushed peanuts
Enjoy!

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