Eye Fillet with Mediterranean Salad and Herby New Potatoes
I love this kind of meal during Summer – light, fresh and super tasty! Eye fillet is such a tender, juicy treat – I love it medium rare.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 tablespoon capers rinsed
- ½ punnet cherry tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup kalamata olives
- ¼ small red onion very finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup basil leaves
- 1 handful rocket leaves
- lemon zest of 1
Herb potatoes
- 400 g baby potatoes scrubbed and cut to an even size
- ⅓ cup fresh mixed herbs e.g. parsley, chives, dill, thyme leaves, roughly chopped
- lemon zest of 1
Beef
- beef eye fillet 350g in one whole piece, at room temperature
Instructions
- Heat oven to 200degC/390 Fahrenheit and line an oven tray with baking paper. Heat a grill pan or BBQ over medium-high heat.
- Combine the capers, tomatoes, red onion and olives with the red wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. Set aside to marinate.
- Toss potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil in prepared tray, and season well with salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Toss with herbs and lemon zest.
- While the potatoes are cooking, cook the beef fillet. Pat beef dry with paper towels and season well with salt. Heat a drizzle of oil in a fry pan on high heat. Brown beef fillet all over (roughly 1-2 minutes each side), then place in the oven with the potatoes for another 10 minutes until cooked medium-rare. Remove beef from the oven, cover with tinfoil and leave to rest somewhere warm for at least 5 minutes.
- Just before serving, toss the rocket, basil and lemon zest together with the capers, tomatoes, onion and olives. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.To serve, slice the beef into 1cm-thick slices and divide between two plates. Top with the salad and pour over any extra dressing. Serve with the warm potatoes on the side.
Notes
New season baby potatoes, tossed with fresh herbs, lovely beef eye fillet either cooked in the pan or on the barbeque till medium rare (or more or less depending on your preference!), a fresh peppery rocket and cherry tomato salad, and a dressing with sharp saltiness from the olives, capers and lemon. It’s a good one to feed a crowd and dine al fresco too! Marinating the capers, red onion, tomatoes and olives is the key to this salad, giving it an extra special hit of Mediterranean flavour!