OK, so it’s not the lowest calorie of dishes, but in my
defence it has salad.
It’s a great alternative to hamburger for a meal for one –
with a side, say a cous-cous salad or the like.
This was a scratch meal, but obviously peppers and
mushrooms would be a great addition.
Also, chopped chives in the sauce would - I think - be great
Before making the minute steak, the main feature to the
meal is the buerre blank sauce – traditionally for fish or eggs (sort of an
easy hollandaise) it is great with steak.
It has a pinch more pepper than the traditional version,
and I really think chopped chives would really add to flavour and texture.
This makes EASILY enough for two people, and that’s heavy
use.
INGREDIENTS
Two shallots / One small onion chopped finely
Glass white wine – 100ml
25ml Lemon Juice
25ml White wine vinegar
170 grms butter
Tablespoon cream
Good pinch white pepper
Pinch salt.
Put the onions, wine, lemon juice and vinegar into a
saucepan.
Reduce until syrupy – about 5 or 7 minutes.
Add cream, salt, salt and pepper – boil for about a
minute.
Reduce the heat and add the butter bit by bit.
Use a whisk to blend in the butter, you are going for a
hollandaise style consistency.
Pass through a sieve and press –
In future I plan to add chopped chives after straining
Serve warm, good over fish and veg, I like it on the
steak.
You can keep in in a thermos until your ready to serve.
For the steak sarnie, put some mustard on a soft bap
I had some Cashel Blue cheese underneath – bloody great.
Some pan fried veg (I only had onions) on the steak, some
dressed mixed salad, eat.
Have cardiologist on speed dial, but it’s a winner.
Red Gurnard - a meaty, economic, tasty and sustainable fish, Scale 3 on the Marine Conservation Societies (MCS) list (*See note at end of article)
This type of fish, bony, bottom dwelling, is not usual on the menu - but they are great.
Very common in North African and Middle Eastern cuisine, this recipe is inspired by Turkish and Lebanese food. Good recipe for the more expensive red snapper as well.
I like my fish on the bone - but you can use fillets if you prefer.
The fish is not in great demand in Ireland, I picked these beauties up from Cork cities English Market - Ballycotton seafoods - along with the samphire, for €3.50, with rice can easily feed 4 or a greedy dinner for two.
This meal itself is great with rice, giving it almost a risotto effect.
The rice will cook in about the same time as it takes to cook the fish and veg.
The sauce, with egg, lemon and cream is kind of a Mediterranean hollandaise - rich and velvety. You will need a pan or heavy based pot with a lid or plate that can cover the pan.
INGREDIENTS
Good knob of butter
Fish - 2 or 4 red gurnard fish/fillets, or red snapper - meaty white fish.
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
115 grm button mushrooms (about 9)
1 tomato - skinned, de-seeded and peeled
1 tablespoon - good squeeze - tomato puree
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice Parsley to garnish .
Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
Cook the onion for 2 - 3 minutes until softened or translucent but not browned.
Add Garlic and cook for another minute, then chuck in your mushrooms, tomato and tomato puree and season to taste.
Cook down for about 5 minutes.
Put the fish fillets on top of the veg and pour over the water.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium/low, cover the pan and leave simmer gently for 10 minutes.
There is a trick to this dish.
While waiting for the fish to cook, whisk up the egg yolk and lemon to emulsify- go easy on the lemon juice, you can add more later to taste, After whisking the egg and lemon add the cream and whisk in.
When cooked, remove the fish and keep warm.
Stir the egg/lemon/cream mixture into the veggies and blend, constantly stirring.
Taste the sauce, add pepper and salt to season as wanted, add more lemon juice to taste if you overdo the lemon, a pinch of sugar will bring it back.
Pour sauce over fish and serve.
I served the fish on a sushi rice with tomato and samphire mini salad on the side.
Also very good just with salad.
I hope you enjoy this recipe - please take the time to comment, I really appreciate the time and effort.
* MCS scale 3 - eat but not too often.
Red gurnard is a fast growing fish and matures early at a large size.
Avoid eating immature fish (less than 25 cm) and fresh (not previously
frozen) fish caught during the spawning season (summer).
A quirky way of doing scotch eggs - great for a snack or a starter.
The dish is quicker and easier than the recipe suggests - just always take care when deep frying.
Enjoy, and please take the time to comment.
I am growing tired of TV foodie personalities who simply copy others without giving any credit and promote themselves as a brand.
Along with classic old recipes, I prefer to watch and read original
cooks with real innovation who adapt or improve classics like Andy Bates or the Hairy Bikers - or chefs who make complex food more accessible, like Manuika Gowardhan
Scotch eggs are actually an English invention, but seemed to have originated from India.
Nargisi Kofta, an egg dish from Hyderabad seems to be the source of this much maligned dish.
Because
of poor, mass produced versions in Britain, Scotch eggs developed a
poor reputation, but with a bit of care and attention they can be the
star of the show.
I find chicken eggs quite big for this recipe, and using quail eggs better - although a little bit finicky to shell, it produces a cuter , smaller version - it is easier to cook (larger eggs take a bit more cooking as they have a thicker coat you run the risk of burning the coating)
As well as that using quail eggs also stretches the coating mix further.
This is influenced by Bates, but using buttermilk and smoked black pudding to give it an Irish character and flavor.
-------------
FOR 12 PORTIONS
The Centre
12 Quails Eggs - boiled and peeled
250 Grams of your favorite sausage, skinned and out of their skins
100 Grams black or white pudding - I used McGeoughs smoked black.
Good pinch of mace
Good pinch of nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon of Anchovie Paste
1 teaspoon of Mustard
The Coating
4 tablespoons buttermilk
3 tablespoons flour
1 beaten hens egg
Breadcrumbs to coat - I used Panko crumbs.
-------------
First, boil the eggs. With quail eggs to prepare, bring a pot of water to the boil.
Plunge in the eggs.
To soft boil, 2 1/2 minutes, hard boil 4 minutes.
Remove from the water when cooked to desire and put into cold water, under a tap, and leave for 5 minutes. This stops a dark ring forming around the yoke which looks unpleasant.
In the meantime, prepare the coating.
Mix and season the spices, seasoning, sausage meat, mustard, paste and black pudding well.
On a layer of foil prepare as a patty - keeping your hands wet helps to stop stickyness.
I found spreading a little buttermilk on the foil helped it stop sticking.
Put an egg on the patty and gently scoop up a little bit with the egg and form the mixture as a coat around the egg to make a little parcel - again, keeping your hands a little wet helps a lot, and it is easier than it sounds.
In four small bowls separately and in order put the:
buttermilk -
flour -
beaten egg -
panko crumbs
Dip each parcel into the bowls in the above order shaking off the excess after each dip.
Heat Donegal rapeseed oil to 180C in a heavy based pot. Test the oil by frying a cube of bread which should turn golden in a few seconds.
Deep fry the parcels in small batches (I suggest 4 at a time) so as not to reduce the heat of the oil.
Remove from oil when dark golden brown, and take care - overcooking will burn the coat quickly.
A great snack - but one word of advice, store stilton in an airtight container.
Stilton does freeze well for long term storage, but the smell can be overwhelming for the fridge.
I picked up the cheese at the highly recommended On the Pigs Back in Cork cities English Market.
Named for a famous London restaurant.
Very simple, all you need is bread, butter, a ripe pear and stilton cheese.
Watercress is a nice addition as well.
Peel and slice ripe pears thinly.
Lightly toast some good bread - sourdough is perfect - on both sides.
Butter the bread generously.
Happy meal
Preheat the grill, or heat the oven to 200C
Arrange the thinly sliced pears on the toast and top with Stilton
Grill or bake until cheese gently bubbling
Serve on hot plates, ideal with a small glass of port.
A classic meal, Devilled Kidneys, which has for some reason fallen out of fashion.
Traditionally served as a breakfast - this is a meal for later in the day, this meal was served with simple polenta, star anise tomato and warm cucumber to start using up a glut in the garden.
Colorful, tasty and ready in about 20 minutes.
The recipe for the kidneys and cucumber came from Gustav Templars great book
Firstly - clean the kidneys.
The video below is a quick guide. Normally there is also a meniscus on the outside of the kidney, this is easy to remove.
You may also have to remove the external fat from the outside, but butchers tend to do this in advance. (**See Note)
Devil-ling the kidneys is as easy as pie.
You will need:
Two tablespoons of Mustard Powder
Two tablespoons of Goodall's liquid Yorkshire Relish -
Worcestershire sauce ( Lea & Perrins ideally) is a good alternative.
Salt and Pepper, season to taste.
Parsley to garnish.
Mix and chuck in with the kidneys in a bowl, stir well to coat.
This can be done up to 24 hours in advance.
On a grill pan or on skewers, grill each side for five minutes when ready to serve.
Sprinkle with copious amounts of parsley, serve on toast for breakfast, or be inventive for lunch / dinner.
There is plenty of great sauce in the pan that you can pour over, cream can be added to it to make it a little richer and milder if you like.
As a very simple side veg with this - breakfast or lunch - star anise with tomato is a great combination.
Use cherry tomatoes or halved beef stake tomatoes.
Coat with olive or rapeseed oil, sprinkle with well crushed star anise and sea salt.
Bake low and slow for best results.
**In Ireland one can easily get kidney with the external fat intact, it is not so common in the UK.
Kidney
simply grilled or BBQ'd in its own fat is another great dish, but in the
UK you might even have to order it online by post.
Do note if doing a search for fresh kidneys online can produce some unplanned results.
If offered kidneys from anything other than an animal, quickly switch off your computer, disconnect and consider leaving the country.
Heart is a cut of meat which is under-used, normally very economic to buy and very, very tasty.
I sincerely believe in using every viable part of an animal, there is too much food waste.
This dish is very easy to prepare.
If you eat liver or kidney then you will be able to eat hearts, but they are not as strong-tasting.
If you are a little squeamish, or even if it is the first time - ask your butcher to remove the vascular bundle at the top of the heart (i.e. the aorta, superior vena cava etc.)
It is important to maintain the integrity of the hearts two cavities for the stuffing.
Also, ask your butcher for butchers twine.
This meal will require a stove top and the oven
INGREDIENTS
1 heart per person with gristle, veins and excess fat removed.
Bread crumbs
1 large onion finely diced
Sage leaves.
Thyme.
Knob of butter.
Salt and Pepper to season.
Bacon to wrap
Parsley to garnish
FOR GRAVY
Red Wine
Flour or cornflour
Preheat oven to 140 deg. centigrade
Using a heavy based pot or casserole dish with a lid gently fry the onions until softened.
Add the finely chopped sage and thyme until wilted and flavour blended in
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the breadcrumbs and stir in until well mixed.
Remove from pan and set aside.
Rinse the heart cavity.
Stuff with the mixture
As an option you can wrap some bacon around the heart.
Secure the top of the heart and bacon using butchers twine.
You can also use bamboo skewers
Heat some more butter in the pot or casserole dish.
Braise the heart until lightly browned.
Cover the pot or casserole dish and transfer to the oven for 90 minutes.
In the oven cooking time you can prepare any side dish you wish.
I served with apple braised home made sauerkraut/zuurkool (or buy Kapusta Czerwona - available in most polish food shops) and new potatoes.
After 90 minutes remove the hearts from the oven.
Remove the string and leave the meat to rest.
In the meantime, using some red wine deglaze the pan
Use plain or cornflour to thicken the liquid - it makes a lovely gravy or jus - but this does need to be kept warm and served quickly to stop it becoming lumpy.
Slice the heart and serve up - garnish with some parsley
Its a bit different and really worth a try - it is delicious - enjoy and please leave a comment.
St Patrick's day, start of the growing season - so whats left?
Well, I'm stuck in Norway at the moment, but it does not mean I can't
did up an old recipe to share.
Cabbage or kale is available all year round if the garden is planned
well, its good for you, full of vitamin C, minerals and fiber.
This dish goes well also with pureed Jerusalem artichoke which are
hardy, the smokey flavour works well with the bacon. Another good option is
pureed parsnips - just to give some body or variety.
In this dish it combines nicely with vinegar to offset salmon's
richness.
Feeds 4 people.
1 small cabbage (about 1 lb.)
4 6-oz. salmon filets
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250 grams (1⁄4 lb.ish) thick-cut bacon, diced
60 ml (1⁄4 cup) dry white wine
60 ml (1⁄4 cup) cup cider vinegar
100 ml (1⁄2 cup) Fish Stock or water
100ml (1⁄2 cup) heavy cream
1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1. Using a mandoline or knife, shred cabbage or kale 1⁄2" thick.
2. Brush or rub both sides of salmon filets with olive oil and season
with salt and pepper. Sear filets in a large skillet or grill pan over high
heat, until evenly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and
set aside. Wipe out pan with paper towels.
3. In the same pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 10
minutes.
Remove bacon, leaving fat in the pan. Drain bacon on paper towels and
set aside. Add cabbage and/or kale to the bacon fat and cook 5 minutes.
Add
wine, vinegar, stock, and cream. Cover and cook until cabbage is wilted, about
15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and place salmon filets in pan over wilted
cabbage and/or kale.
Cover tightly and cook until salmon is firm to the touch, about 10
minutes.
4. To serve, spoon cabbage/kale onto plates and sprinkle with the crisp
bacon. Top cabbage with salmon filets and a spoonful of pan juices.
Garnish
with dill and chives.
=====================
SURF AND TURF - A NOTE ON BEEF AND SALMON
Just a note for American readers on this day - you might be
surprised to learn that your traditional St. Paddy’s meal—corned beef and
cabbage—is as Irish as spaghetti.
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Dublin but in New
York City, in 1762.
Over the next 100 years, Irish immigration to the United States
exploded.
The new wave of immigrants brought their own food traditions, including
soda bread and Irish stew.
Pork was the preferred meat, since it was cheap in Ireland, as was
salmon, and ubiquitous on the dinner table.
The favored cut was Irish bacon, a lean, smoked pork loin similar to
the Canadian type familiar in the USA.
However, in the United States at the time, pork was prohibitively
expensive for most newly arrived Irish families, so they began cooking beef—the
staple meat in the American diet—instead.
So how did pork and potatoes become corned beef and cabbage?
Irish immigrants to America lived alongside other “undesirable”
European ethnic groups that often faced discrimination in their new home,
including Jews and Italians.
Members of the Irish working class in New York City frequented Jewish
delis and lunch carts, and it was there that they first tasted corned
beef.
Cured and cooked much like Irish bacon, it was seen as a tasty and
cheaper alternative to pork.
And while potatoes were certainly available in the United States,
cabbage offered a more cost-effective alternative to cash-strapped Irish
families.
Cooked in the same pot, the spiced, salty beef flavored the plain
cabbage, creating a simple, hearty dish that couldn’t be easier to prepare.
After taking off among New York City’s Irish community, corned beef and
cabbage found fans across the country. It was the perfect dish for everyone
from harried housewives to busy cooks on trains and in cafeterias—cheap, easy
to cook and hard to overcook.
It was even served alongside mock turtle coup at President Lincoln’s
inauguration dinner in 1862.
It is as American as apple pie.
Mayor of Cork - Gerald Goldberg
That is not to say that Ireland does not have a tradition of cured
beef. In a quirk of history, with a large Jewish population, spiced beef is
popular in Cork. It is a Jewish way of preparing meat that has become a staple
of Cork life, no table in Cork is without it at Christmas.
Shalom park and Mayor Gerald Goldberg, whose wife worked with my Grand-mother in Cork for special need's kids, are just part of Cork's
historical and cultural fabric. An excellent article on Cork's Jewish community can be read on historian Cllr Kevin McCarthy's blog.
The best spiced beef in Cork is, in my opinion, Tom Durkins in the English Market
Waterford has a traditional corned beef, and that is normally also
available at Toms stand.
If you get the chance, I heartily recommend you try spiced beef is in a sandwich, and with a bowl of soup ( or a glass of Midaza - a new local stout in the City) at Arthur Maynes. It is the perfect late lunch, a fantastic spot in Cork to soak up some of the local history, atmosphere and culture close to the English market.
Enjoy, have a great St Patrick's weekend - please do take the time to
comment
Happy new year to one and all. I do know that I have been updating very little in the last year, but that has been due to moving from Connemara to Cork, and working a great deal at sea.
Good news is I have applied for an allotment in Cork, and will be getting back to growing and cooking.
So, the one thing - which I wrote about a while back, was the use of seaweed in traditional Irish recipies.
Nori are probably the most identifiable Japanese food. Most people associate this delicate looking and delicious seaweed
wrapped Japanese treat with the exotic east - and yet it was eaten in
Ireland as a staple of the poor for centuries, and the same type of sea veg used to make Nori was eaten in Ireland but known as Sleabhac (pronounced Schlowk).
A very good UK based company producing Nori sheets and a very wide range of dried seaweeds are Clearspring and they are quite widely available in Ireland as well as having an online store.
But Nori itself can be made the main attraction. nori sheets, along with sushi rolling mats are easily found in most health stores.
Personally I tend to shop in the English market a lot - the people across the way from Mr Bells in particular.
I tried to make a type of Irish bulgar wheat one year, using oats - but that failed and was simply too much work, so I just gave up on that and bought bulgar wheat.
In this recipe, I use it to replace expensive sushi rice, and do a quick Irish nori using Bulgar - which in theory I could grow and make myself here in Ireland.
It could not be easier to prepare.
Prepare the bulgar in to a Tabbouleh - in this case it is an Armenian version called Eech.
Anyway, you will need:
Bulgar wheat, 1 cup
Boiling water, 2 cups
Shallot - very finely sliced
Fist full of parsley, very finely chopped
dash of olive oil
Pack of Nori leaves, toasted (most health stores have them)
Half a lemon, squeezed.
Cucumber
Small pack smoked salmon
It could not be easier to prepare.
You will need:
1 cup of Bulgar wheat
2 cups boiling water
1 very finely sliced Shallot.
A handful of parsley - finely chopped.
Half a lemon, squeezed.
Prepare the Bulgar in to a Tabbouleh - in this case it is an Armenian version called Eech.
Put the Bulgar wheat and shallot in a bowl
Add the boiling water and cover
after 15 minutes add the parsley, lemon juice and olive oil to mix through
That's it - Sin E !!!!
Lay the toasted Nori sheets on the sushi mat.
I layered on some smoked salmon slices, then some very thinly sliced cucumber.
After that about a centimeter depth of Eech/Tabbouleh
Baton of cucumber in the center
Roll
Slice
Serve with a little dollop of homemade horseradish sauce.
I topped mine with a little wasabi and shop bought pickled ginger.
In future, I'd use home grown horseradish sauce - after all wasabi is just Japanese horseradish - and I'd leave out the ginger.
Looks great, and tastes great.
I topped mine with a little wasabi and shop bought pickled ginger.
In future, I'd use home grown horseradish sauce - after all wasabi is just Japanese horseradish - and I'd leave out the ginger.
Looks great, and tastes great.
Think of it - to paraphrase Basil Fauwlty as a Hiberno / Nipponese cucumber sandwich.
Actually, with the fillings it would be Hiberno / Nipponese / Turkish / Armenian hybrid !!!!
I wonder if with reference to my new home would it is a little too much to call it a Cork Norrie recipe??
Although this is my own recipe, if you are interested in cooking with seaweed I still have to say you should invest in Dr. Prannie Rhattigans great book - Irish Seaweed Kitchen
Enjoy - and please feel free to leave a comment - I really do appreciate the time, effort and feedback.
A great dish, very simple and very very good with new potatos boiled in seawater. Im sure regular readers here know I tend to look to Northern Europe for inspiration for a lot of my dishes, but really it is to Normandy we Irish should look.
I am uploading this while at work - on a ship - so you will have to wait for some better photos folks - sorry, some even upload sideways from here! Why we never developed a better cuisine culture in Ireland I will never know, probably has something to do with a landless peasant class, and a virtual fuedal system lasting so long, but that is too big a divergence.
I feel that Normandy, with its climate, mixed Celtic and Norman heritage and its food produce is a great place for us to look at, with dairy, seafoodmeat and fruit more like our own than the rest of France.
This dish could not be simpler, with sustainable fish and home grown veg and fruit. This really is one of my favorite meals. Use a good medium-dry cider to make a fairly sharp sauce. This will contrast well with the rich definite flavour of the mackerel.
There's nothing fancy about this dish, the only advice I'd give is to try and find a good real cider if you can.
English and Welsh readers are spoiled for choice when it comes to organic ciders, especially in the west country, make really good but astoundingly potent ciders they call scrumpy.
I have not tried it yet but there is an artisan cider producer in Ireland I can find based out of Dublin. Fruit and Vine who produce, among other things, Double L cider, are available from several outlets that you can find online at their website, I'm looking forward to trying their cider and especially the Balsamic Cider Vinegar when I get home.
Also, a big thanks to the beer revolu, a regular poster at boards.ie who also suggestedStonewell cider from Cork.
I really think it is important to support and promote our own artisan producers, so I'd give them a shot over the big corporations like Magners/Bulmers whose cider need to be mass produced to the same consistency, thats fine for some-like MacDonalds, and has its place, but I like to have variation and choice as well.
Fresh whole mackerel, cleaned and filleted as you like (one each)
Enough dry cider to come half way up the fish (about 1 or 2 wine glasses)
1 large Bramley Apple,diced
1 large onion, sliced
White Pepper
tsp whole grain mustard
Preheat the oven to moderate hot 180 C - gas 4 Gut, clean and fillet fish. Wipe the mackerel with a bit of kitchen paper. Put it in an overnproof dish with the onion, cider, mustard and a little pepper. Peel, core and chop the apples into smallish chunks. Push some of them into the middle of the mackerel and place the rest round. Spoon the cider over them and the fish. Cover the dish and put in the oven or 15 mins. Remove the cover and cook for another 15 mins. Lift the fish out onto a warm plate and pop in the (now switched off) oven leaving the door ajar. Pour the juices into a small pan with some of the apples. Cook fairly quickly, mashing up the soft apples, to make a sauce. Put the remaining apples round the fish and pour the sauce over. Serve with potatoes and some nice garden green - spinach or chard is great with this.
Radish is a very easy to grow crop. I find it most useful as a marker crop for slow growing plants like leek or parsnip.
Quite often radish is thrown into a salad almost as an afterthought. This simple recipe shows off the radishes finer qualities, and that peppery flavour is an ideal accompaniment to beef steak.
Essentially it is a carpaccio of radish
Carpaccio traditionally is meat or fish sliced very thinly and sometimes pounded, but I like to use the term for veg served like this. For the very daring, the beef could also be served raw, very thinly sliced and with a mustard dressing - but I just fancied a warmed salad.
To add to that I use an anchovy and Parmesan based dressing to add a salty tang to the meal.
The recipe itself was influenced by a kohlrabi recipe by Hugh Fernley Whittingstall.
This is a real surf and turf meal, using beef and fish - Anchovy are a member of the herring family and found in the ocean in coastal areas in large shoals all around the world. They are very strong tasting, but more salty than fishy in taste. For a variation on this recipe, capers would be a good alternative.
At the moment I am back at work, sitting in Inebolu port, Northern Turkey, but had enough sense to bring away some photos of meals etc. with me to update the blog now and again.
My radish were quite small, but my mate Damiens were huge, about the size of a small carrot.
I have two types of radish at the moment, a red French Breakfast 3 type that is available in nearly all seed outlets, and a yellow french type called Jaune d'Or Ovale.
Many people don't like large radish, or find them too hot. For this recipe I like that peppery kick, and the large size makes for better presentation.
For 4 people you will need about 4 large or, of the more usual size that you get in the shops, about 16.
INGREDIENTS
SALAD
Enough radishes for people to be fed - 1 large of 4 small per person
50 grammes Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons of Donegal Rapeseed oil.
Tablespoon chopped chives
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4-6 sustainable anchovy fillets, cut into small pieces
For the Anchovy HFW recommends fish-4-ever.com
STEAK
Small steak, 1 for every two people
Onion stem cuttings, sliced
tomato - 1 per person, cut in half
French bread stick or turkish flat white bread, sliced
Mustard, whole grain
Mayonnaise
Wash the radish. Using a veg peeler, slice into thin slivers as long as possible into a bowl.
Make a dressing using the garlic, oil, lemon juice, anchovy and grated Parmesan.
Pour the dressing over the radish and mix well.
Plate up and sprinkle over some chopped chives and a few shavings of Parmesan.
I cooked the beef quickly with some onion greens from the garden, using onion stalks that have gone to flower with some tomato's to add bulk and sweetness.
This was simply cut into strips, places on a slice of crusty white bread with a little mayonnaise and wholegrain mustard and plated with the salad. It is a good way to stretch steak, and I do think we Irish tend to overdo red meat consumption.
The salad takes about 5 minutes to prepare, the steak about 10. The meal has great flavours that compliment each other and I love the texture of the radish, that crispy water chestnut like bite.
With that you have the onion and salt tang, the rich chewy beef, sweet warm tomato and the peppery radish kick.
I hope you like the recipe, and as always please feel free to comment - I really like to hear feedback.
