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Jamie Oliver’s Perfect Steak and Chargrilled Salad

Jamie Oliver Author Photo

by Jamie Oliver from BBQ

This vibrant spring vegetable salad with steak by Jamie Oliver is made on the barbecue to achieve the perfect charred edges.

From the book

Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

1 x 2.5cm-thick sirloin steak (350g)
1 bunch of mixed woody herbs (20g), such as thyme, marjoram, rosemary
5cm piece of ginger
1 clove of garlic
½–1 fresh red chilli
1 tbsp low-salt soy sauce
1 tbsp runny honey
1 lime
160g tenderstem broccoli
160g asparagus
1 bunch of spring onions
100g radishes
160g sugar snap peas
2 sprigs of mint

Method

Get the steak out of the fridge to come up to room temperature. Light the barbecue (see note below for coal set up). Make a herb brush by tying the woody herbs to the end of a wooden spoon with string. Peel and finely grate the ginger and garlic into a large bowl, then finely grate over the chilli. Add the soy and honey and squeeze over the lime juice. Set aside.

Remove the fat from the steak, discarding the sinew, then finely slice the fat and place in a small cast-iron frying pan. Put it on the cool zone to render and crisp up. Season the steak all over with sea salt. Place it on the hot zone, turning with tongs to cook gently on all sides, or until gnarly, using the herb brush to baste it with the rendered fat as you go – you’ll need 2 minutes for rare (or until 47ºC), 3 minutes for medium-rare (or until 52ºC) and 4 minutes for medium (or until 58ºC). Remove to a plate to rest – if you’re using a thermometer, the temperature should go up 2 or 3 degrees as it rests.

Trim the broccoli, asparagus and spring onions and place on the hot zone with the radishes. Cook for 5 minutes, or until tender and charred, turning regularly with tongs and removing to the bowl of dressing once done. Trim the sugar snaps, pile into a metal sieve and place on the medium zone for 2 minutes, tossing occasionally, then add to the bowl, along with the crispy bits of steak fat, if you like. Toss well and transfer to a serving platter.

Slice the steaks and arrange on top, drizzling over any resting juices, then pick over the mint leaves, to serve.

Coal set up

50/50: Simply pile all your coals evenly into one half of the barbecue, leaving the other half clear. This gives you a clear hot zone and cool zone, with a medium area in the middle where you can get the best of both worlds. This set-up is helpful for recipes where you need to sear or get something going over direct heat, but then want to give it time to cook through more gently over indirect heat.

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