Eye Fillet of Beef & Green Tomato Salad
Although eye fillet of beef may not have the extra flavour of say, scotch or sirloin, it has always been a favourite of mine when entertaining. It can be enjoyed cooked to blue, rare, medium-rare or even medium, if you must! Recipe & Words Kathy Paterson, Photo Tam West.
Serves 6
Beef
- 1kg piece of eye fillet of beef, trimmed of any silver skin, at room temperature olive oil for rubbing
- sea salt and black pepper
Green tomato salad
- 4 thick slices one-day-old white sourdough bread
- 2 small cucumbers, trimmed
- 4 small zucchini, trimmed
- 4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 6–8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil sea salt
- 4–6 medium-sized green tomatoes, cores removed (include a few green cherry tomatoes as well
- 4–6 handfuls of small green edible leaves (such as rocket, baby spinach, baby kale, watercress, land cress, baby beetroot leaves, lamb’s lettuce and salad purslane)
- a handful of small basil leaves
- white pepper
Beef
Heat a barbecue hot-plate until medium-hot.
Rub the beef with olive oil and place on the barbecue hot-plate. Barbecue for 20 minutes, turning the beef to brown well on all sides. Lower the heat and barbecue for a further 5 minutes for medium-rare beef.
Remove the beef from the barbecue and place on a plate. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover loosely with foil and a clean tea towel and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes.
Green tomato salad
Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, slice the cucumber and zucchini lengthwise into thin strips and add to the bowl as you go. Discard the cucumber and the zucchini once you peel to the seeds. Add the spring onions, vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and toss gently to combine.
Slice the tomatoes or cut in half horizontally, then quarter each half. Add to the salad with the green leaves and basil. Grind over a little white pepper. Toss gently to combine and check the seasoning.
To serve
Place the salad in a large shallow serving bowl or on a platter. Slice the eye fillet into thin slices across the grain of the meat and place on the salad, or arrange the beef slices on a separate serving plate.
Kathy Paterson – Grew up on a sheep and beef farm in the foothills of Mt Holdsworth in the Tararua Ranges and takes great pleasure from seeking out the freshest produce available to produce fresh and flavoursome food. You can find more from her online at kathypaterson.co.nz or in her beautiful cook book, Meat & Three (also available on her website for those wanting more!).
