Wasabi beef and a brace of risotto flavours

THE two recipes that make the cut this week are contrasting in style, taste and origin. Wasabi beef is a really super recipe dish that can lift a steak to another dimension as it adds flavour and substance to the simplest of ingredients while twisting the Eastern heat dial up a fraction with the introduction of the Japanese horseradish. The second is a comfort food dish – in two guises – Italian and very European in style that are born from the one process of making risotto. Smoking some butternut squash is something that I have done before and when pureed, add it to some good quality stock and continue as normal.

The second nods to the sea by adding some mussels and baby courgettes to the risotto bianco. Both pack a flavour punch and make for really easy teatime treats.

 

Wasabi beef

WHAT YOU NEED
for the beef
1 trimmed fillet steak per person
1 tspn wasabi
100 ml pomegranate or grapefruit juice
1 crushed garlic clove
some pickled ginger
2 tblsp of mirin
1 chopped and deseeded red chilli
1 tblsp of sesame or walnut oil

for the cucumber
thin slices of cucumber
sea salt
sherry vinegar
50ml of pomegranate or grapefruit juice

for the carrot
1 peeled and finely diced carrot
mayonnaise to combine
1 cm square of fresh minced ginger root

olive oil to fry

WHAT TO DO
GET some really good quality fillet beef for this dish as it will pay off for you in the end result.
Add the beef to a bowl and combine all the marinade ingredients and coat the steak for 15 minutes. If you would like more heat from your steak then you would just leave it marinade for longer.
For the cucumber, using a peeler, make thin slices and mix with the sea salt, sherry vinegar and fruit juice for 15 minutes also. Leave to rest in the fridge before serving.
For the carrots, peel and dice them and combine with mayonnaise and the ginger.
Then, remove the steak from the marinade and fry until you get the required doneness.
Serve the steak with the cucumber and carrot and enjoy.

Duo of risotto

THESE certainly do not have to be served together, it’s just an option for either to be cooked.
It all starts with a basic risotto brought half way through the cooking stage and then it is transformed when the different flavourings are added.

Smoked butternut squash risotto

WHAT YOU NEED
1L of stock
knob of butter
olive oil
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
2 shallots finely sliced
400g risotto rice
splash of white wine (optional)
sea salt flakes
150g Parmesan cheese
50g butter
1/2 a butternut squash roasted with hickory chips
For the garnish
Fresh thyme leaves
Pumpkin seeds – toasted
Cooked bacon pieces

WHAT TO DO
Cook, without colour in a little olive oil, the chopped shallots and garlic. Add the rice with some butter and coat the rice. Add the wine and allow to evaporate and then, a ladleful at a time, gradually add the stock and continue to stir until the rice is almost cooked and begins to plump.
Meantime, have the butternut squash chopped and roasting in the oven with the hickory chips and some olive oil. Once done, remove the skin and puree the cooked flesh and add to the remainder of the stock and continue to cook the rice by adding the squash flavoured stock to the mix.
Once cooked, add the knob of butter, the Parmesan cheese and garnish with the thyme, bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Mussel and baby
courgette risotto

For this version, simply bring the bianco mix to the fully cooked stage and add the coked mussels, finely cubed raw baby courgettes and a dash of Thai fish sauce to the mix after you add the butter and Parmesan cheese.