BEEF CARPACCIO
Beef Carpaccio…
lazy afternoon lunch style…
Drove through to sis in Joberg for this - was such a treat!
• get hold of some good quality beef fillet - a little goes a long way so don’t over prepare, I suggest approx 300 odd grams for 4 people
• it really adds a nice taste to the flavour to sear the outside of the fillet ever so slightly, so grind up some sea salt and black pepper in a mortar and pestle, you can add some cumin seeds and or dried lemon thyme even, rub the fillet with olive oil, then roll in your flavoured salt mix until evenly coated
• heat up a griddle pan till searing hot (any other pan will also do) and pop the fillet on, dry searing briefly on all sides - point is to just seal the meat, not cook away at the fillet, so roll that baby around aggressively (you might want to open a window or two to prevent smoke inhalation), remove fillet from pan and rest
• I like to put it on some foil, drizzle with a bit of lemony olive oil and sprinkle with fresh thyme. When cool just wrap it up in the foil. For a bit of fancy - at this stage double wrap in plastic and make sure you roll it up tightly and evenly - and pop into the freezer
• it needs to be somewhat slightly frozen to slice thin even slices neatly easily and elegantly, so don’t go freezing it into an iced block of meat now, you will run out of wine and bread whilst waiting for it to thaw…!
• neatly layer the thin slices in a flat dish or platter, scatter with some capers, pickled red onions, a lemon olive oil and mustard drizzle, top with rocket and fresh Parmesan shavings, and a solid grind of pepper
• serve with some fresh panini slices, top up the glasses, and reminisce over the vintage plates and all the grandmothers