FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PALEO WOOD FIRED COOKED FILLET STEAK WITH CHILLI COFFEE AND LIME MAYO

25 Jun 2014

PALEO WOOD FIRED COOKED FILLET STEAK WITH CHILLI COFFEE AND LIME MAYO

Wonderful sumptuous dinner treat, I cooked the centre cut fillet over my wood fired pit which gave the outer crust a soft woody almost but not charred flavour, left the fillet to rest and cool completely, then sliced as thin as I could, in the centre of each fillet slice place a dollop of your homemade coffee chilli and lime mayo, bazaar flavour combo I know but I saw Aussie Bill do this and thought I would add it to my paleo list of foods, place a steam of asparagus, wedge of cuecumber and a sprig of coriander on top of the mayo then fold the left side over the right to make a roll, I cut 16 slices from the fillet and served 3-4 rolls per person.

INGREDIENTS

(serves 4)

800g centre cut fillet of beef

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

16 sprigs asparagus pre cooked

16 batons cuecumber

16 sprigs of coriander

CHILI COFFEE LIME MAYO

3 egg yolks

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard (paleo ish)

Pinch of sea salt and white pepper

300ml rapeseed oil (paleo avocado oil)

1 tsp ground coffee

1/2 half lime juiced

1 tsp harissa chilli paste

To make the quick mayo, place all the ingredients in a blender except the oil and start to blend, add the rapeseed oil slowly at first until you have a thick mayo consistency, taste and adjust the season if needed. It really is that easy to make. To flavour your mayonnaise stir in the coffee, lime juice and harissa.

You can easily cook this in a dry frying pan, just the same as I have over my wood fired pit, I am just having so much fun with my wood fired pit I want to cook everything on it!!! I seasoned the fillet with salt and black pepper then placed the fillet over the fire pit for approx 15 minutes over a medium heat turning regularly, so that all sides had a chance to rest off the heat while the other side was cooking, this is the almost the same in a dry frying pan, just keep turning every 3 minutes or so, once cooked to rare, rough guide is 9 minutes per lb, rest your meat for 5-10 minutes wrapped in foil.

I like to prep all my ingredients before I start to cook or assemble, so having the cuecumber batons cut to the depth of the fillet, the asparagus steamed, the coriander leaves picked and the mayo made means, after the fillet steak has rested I can take my time to assemble the fillet rolls.

This is a gorgeous super tasty flavoursome pretty dinner that delighted both my eyes and my belly, I just love the paleo lifestyle, I am not paleo perfect and have not intention on being so but I have found myself to be naturally paleo just by removing the grain and legumes food groups, my incentive is weight loss which so far this lifestyle has helped me lose 59lbs.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.