I have just finished doing some cooking demos at Tatsing Australia and people asked me if they could get the recipes for the dish I demo’d. So here they are:
Lentil, Parsley and Tomato Salad
1 ½ cups of brown lentils
1 clove of garlic smashed
2 bay leaves
2 large ripe tomatoes – sliced across into fours then roughly chopped into large cubes
½ – ¾ Spanish red onion – finely sliced
2 Lebanese cucumbers – peeled and cut into dice
1 tablespoon of small salted capers
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley
12 caper berries
Put lentils, smashed garlic and bay leaves into saucepan with 6 cups of cold water. Place pan on high heat and bring to the boil then turn down and simmer for 12 – 15 mins or until the lentils are al dente. Strain and remove the garlic and bay leaf then allow lentils to cool.
Combine all other ingredients in a large salad bowl making sure you capture all the juice from the tomatoes and mix well. Add the warm lentils in to the bowl and mix well again.
Dress with a generous splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar – season with a pinch of salt.
Tea smoked brined Eye fillet
1 eye fillet – 700g – one kilo
200g salt
200g of brown sugar
20 black pepper corns
3 bay leaves
3 pieces of lemon rind – no pith
1 litres of boiling water
3 litres of water
Put the salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and lemon rind in a large pot and pour over the boiling water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt and then add in the cold water and stir again. Put pot in the fridge to bring down the temperature. Once the brine is cool place the eye fillet in – it should be covered by the brine, cover the pot with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for two to three days turning the fillet each day.
After two – three days remove the fillet and pat dry with paper towels and place on a plate. Put plate in the fridge uncovered for 1 – 2 days so as to dry out.
Smoke mix:
½ cup of black tea
½ cup of brown sugar
½ cup of raw white rice
Mix all ingredients together well. Line a wok with three layers of Al Foil and pour the smoking mix in to the wok. Turn the heat to high and wait for the mix to begin to smoke, when it does place a wire rack in the wok and then place the eye fillet on to the rack over the smoking mix. Cover tightly and once the smoke is really going turn the heat down a little to a medium high. Smoke for 25 – 30 minutes. Remove the meat from the wok and if you have a meat thermometer check the internal temp. Ideally you want to get a reading of between 63°C to 67°C. Allow the meat to rest then slice thinly and enjoy.
Mix sliced meat through the lentil salad and serve.
