This is an absolutely divine tasting eye fillet. Cook it on a wood fired barbeque if you can for that extra special wood smoked flavour.
Serves 10 to 12
DF, GF
Ingredients
Eye fillet
- 1x whole beef eye fillet
- 250g pancetta
- a roll of natural fibre string for trussing the beef
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive tapenade
- 1 cup kalamata olives, pips removed
- 2 tbsp capers
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
- 3 anchovy fillets
- ½ cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, roughly chopped + a few sprigs for the stuffing
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. To prepare the eye fillet: place the eye fillet on a large wooden chopping board and trim off any sinew and fat. Cut a deep slit along the length of the fillet, but leaving the ends uncut, to create a pocket-like opening in the beef.
2. To prepare the tapenade: place a frying pan over a high heat with a splash of olive oil. When hot add the olives and fry for 3–4 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Using a food processor, blend all the ingredients together until lightly combined. Transfer into a small bowl.
4. To stuff and truss the beef: open the pocket in the beef and evenly spread half of the tapenade inside the beef.
5. Lay 6 pieces of the pancetta inside the pocket so they are covering the length of the inside of the beef fillet. Close the pocket and wrap the remaining pancetta around the outside of the beef.
6. Cut 6 pieces of string approximately 15cm long. Wrap the string around the beef to secure the pancetta in place. Liberally drizzle olive oil all over the fillet and season really well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Wedge the sprigs of rosemary under the string.
7. To cook the beef: heat your barbeque to a high heat and sear the fillet for a few minutes on all sides. Now reduce the heat or move it to the coolest section of the grill.
8. Slow roast the fillet on the barbeque for approximately 25–35 minutes (depending on how rare you like your beef), turning it once during the cooking time to ensure the meat cooks evenly.
9. Remove from the heat and allow the beef to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining tapenade on the side.
Ripe Recipes: A Third Helping by Angela Redfern and the Ripe Deli team, Beatnik Publishing, RRP $60.00, www.beatnikshop.com
Photography: Sally Greer
