If you like your beef barely cooked and you are lucky enough to have access to a quality craft butcher, then beef carpaccio is the dish for you!

My fillet was prepared for me as I watched from a whole side of beef – perfect and fresh as a daisy! You should ensure that the meat is the freshest you can get. It should also be taken out of the fridge an hour or two before cooking so that the meat is close to room temperature prior to cooking. Cooked correctly and it should not be bloody at all, but beautifully seared on the outside to illuminate the beautiful dark red of the fillet. The accompaniements give you hits of rooty heat and some deep blue comfort in the mouth along to accentuate the beautiful flavour of the meat. Quick to prepare and very fulfilling even without any carbs to go with.

Ingredients (served 2):

350g piece of prime fillet steak
Olive oil
1 tbsp dried thyme
10 radishes, topped and tailed and thinly sliced
2 sticks of celery, grated or finely sliced
1 inch piece of fresh root horseradish, peeled and grated
1/2 an iceberg lettuce (sliced into 2 quarters)
Spritz of fresh lemon juice
100g of buttermilk
50g of blue cheese (rind taken off and chopped into small cubes)
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

Season the fillet well with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried thyme. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, place the buttermilk and the blue cheese and gently heat to melt the cheese.
When fully melted, stir to fully combine. Test for consistency. If you need to thicken it a little stir in some cornflour.
Make sure everything has combined well. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Slice the radishes, grate the celery and horseradish root into a bowl.
Season with smoked sea salt, pepper, lemon juice and 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Stir to combine all the ingredients fully and set aside.
Heat a frying pan for the fillet. Do not add any extra oil.
When the pan is very hot, place the fillet in and sear it on each side for no more than 1 minute, including the ends.
When fully seared, take the meat out of the pan and rest covered for five minutes.
Plate up the remoulade.
Place a quarter of the iceberg lettuce on the plate and pour over the blue cheese dressing.
Uncover the fillet, and using a very sharp knife, finely slice the meat.
Place the carpaccio on the plate and serve immediately.
….and Enjoy!