insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 13 - March 2016 | Page 32

FOOD+DRINK

Energising recipes to
put a spring in your step
The transition between winter and spring, although very welcome, can make a lot of us feel
lethargic, but put a little more effort into what you’re eating and you’ll be surprised at the
extra oomph you can pick up from the simplest of foods. We’ve teamed up with Sarah Raven,
esteemed gardener, writer, and owner of Perch Hill Farm in Robertsbridge, East Sussex,
to bring you a few easy, delicious, and energising recipes from her brand new cookbook,
Good Good Food, to help you see in spring with a bit more zing.

Beef Tagliata
Tagliata is a warm beef fillet salad with lots of
excellent, peppery winter salad leaves. You
can either stick with the original Italian flavours,
marinating the beef in chopped rosemary, lemon,
garlic and olive oil, or give it an oriental twist, with
plenty of ginger and chilli, as here. You can also
use sirloin steaks, which are less expensive than
fillet – cut them into strips after very brief cooking.

Energiser: Peppery leaves

Peppery leaves are a great source of minerals,
calcium and potassium, that help keep brains
sharp and blood pressure regulated.

For eight

About 1.3kg beef fillet, trimmed
5 or 6 large handfuls of mixed peppery winter
leaves, e.g. rocket, mustards ‘Golden Streaks’
and ‘Osaka Purple’, Treviso chicory, chicory
‘Variegata del Castelfranco’, all refreshed in
cold water and dried

For the marinade

200ml soy sauce (or juice of 2 lemons)
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
100ml sunflower oil

For the oriental dressing

6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
Lemon juice, to taste
1 small tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1 small tablespoon light brown sugar
2 garlic cloves
Good handful of fresh coriander
Sunflower oil
Maldon salt and black pepper

Method

For the marinade, put the soy sauce, chilli,
garlic and sunflower oil in a blender and
process until smooth. Spread over the beef
fillet and leave for several hours (or overnight) in
the fridge, turning from time to time.
Bring the fillet to room temperature and preheat
the oven to 220 ̊C/gas mark 7.
B rown the fillet quickly on a griddle or in a
frying pan over a high heat, and then on a

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griddle or in a roasting pan, roast it for 15–20
minutes (depending whether you like rare or
medium) in the preheated oven. Allow to cool
a little.
Combine all the dressing ingredients with
half of the coriander. Thinly slice the fillet and
arrange the slices on a bed of salad leaves.
Drizzle the dressing and scatter the rest of the
coriander over the top, adding Maldon salt and
freshly ground black pepper to taste.