The vibrant colours of this salad combined with the gentle warming heat of chilli makes for a super autumnal dish. I’ve never been a fan of very spicy foods so I purposely created this dish to be quite sweet and zingy rather than hot – but feel free to add some extra chillies if you can handle the heat!
I prefer to use fillet steak in this dish, just because it’s leaner than other cuts of beef, but you can also use rib-eye too. Make sure you buy from a reputable butcher and try and get the best you can afford – you’ll only need one fillet for two people so it’s worth spending a little more. Using lean fillet steak also means this is a really nutritious, low fat, protein packed meal. Try it for a lunchtime treat, a light supper or as a dinner party starter. This dish is really simple and quick to make and looks pretty impressive on the plate.
It’s important to make sure that the salad ingredients are nice and crunchy so that they provide a good contrast to the tender, warm meat. By placing the ingredients into a bowl of iced water for 15 minutes or so, you’ll achieve a really good crunch.
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 8oz fillet or rib eye steak
2 medium carrots
Half cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
1 small red pepper
1 red onion
1 bunch spring onions,
5 radishes
100ml sweet chilli sauce
50ml honey
25ml ketchup
1 tsp dried chilli
2/3 fresh chillies (if desired)
Coriander to garnish
Method
Prepare the salad by using a potato peeler to make ribbons of the carrot and cucumber, and finely slice the radishes to make small, thin discs. De-seed and finely slice the red pepper and both types of onion. If you want to make the dish a little hotter, slice the fresh chillies and put all the ingredients together in a bowl of iced water. Refrigerate until needed.
Next, prepare the dressing by mixing the sweet chilli sauce, dried chilli, honey and ketchup together.
Over a high heat, pan-fry the steak for 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Cook for a little longer if you prefer it more well-done. Baste the steak in half of the dressing mixture and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Drain the salad ingredients, divide between two plates and drizzle over the remaining dressing. Finely slice the beef, dividing equally between the two plates, and place on top of the salad. Finish the dish with an extra burst of colour by sprinkling some fresh coriander on top.