July 28th, 2009

Steak_Salad

Char-grilled Balsamic Rump Steak with Heirloom Tomato and Bobby Bean Salad

It’s a pretty miserable  rainy day, not much to look forward to considering it’s supposed to be mid-summer.

However I  should look on the bright side,at least my tomatoes and the other plants are getting a good watering. I hope the tomatoes will ripen though! Last year we had plenty of tomatoes but due to the lack of sunshine most of them stayed green.

The smiley veggie delivery man came again this week with his unusual box of tricks, it’s brilliant as I do not know what to expect. This week I had lots of bobby and runner beans, dill, plums, corn on the cob and a selection of glorious heirloom tomatoes.

My brain started to work overtime and mum got stuck in too. We laid all the goodies out on the kitchen table, grouping ingredients together and wrote a list of dishes that we could make with this treasure. Out came grannies book as we decided to split the bobby beans and make two recipes one would be for this celebratory steak dish and the other a sweet and sour curried bobby bean pickle, the plums were turned into a plum upside down cake before I could blink. Mum spent most of the afternoon slicing both the bobby and runner beans.

Amongst the mixture of heirloom tomatoes were some round green ones, oblong tiger stripe plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, baby vine plum and a few very wrinkly but gorgeous looking big ones.

I bought a few 28 day hung rumps steaks for a special supper. Mum’s visit is coming to an end and it’s nearly time for her to return home after her three month visit. I have enjoyed having her around and we do not quite know how we are going to cope without mum who keeps the ironing and cleaning in-hand. I’m also going to miss grannies book, we had fun making some pretty special recipes from it and I found it truly inspirational.

So the rump steak dinner is to mark the occasion. I semi-dried the tomatoes at 100°C for a couple of hours and made a lovely warm salad of bobby and haricot beans. As it’s a bit chilly so I served this as a warm salad however it would be just as delicious served cold.

Heirloom_tomatoesSemi-dried_tomatoesBobby_beans

Golden Onion and Balsamic Vinaigrette

  • 4 tbs balsamic vinegar
  • 1 small onions
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 6 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp golden caster sugar
  • 1tsp fresh lemon thyme chopped
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Peel and finely chop the onion and crush the clove of garlic.

Heat a small sauce pan with the olive oil and gently saute the chopped onions and garlic until golden brown, season.

Add the sugar and remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the vinegar and chopped thyme.

Let the vinaigrette infuse and cool.

Semi-dried Heirloom Tomatoes

  • 2 tiger plum tomatoes
  • 5 vine baby plum tomatoes
  • 2 alternative green tomatoes
  • 1 sprig of lemon thyme
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 100°C and line a baking tray.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them in 1/4's regardless of their size.

Place the cut tomatoes on the lined baking tray, lightly season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and scatter the leaves from the lemon thyme over the tomatoes.

Place the tray in the preheated oven for two hours.

Once the tomatoes are semi-dried remove the tray from the oven and drizzle the oil over. Let the tomatoes cool.

Haricot and Bobby Bean Salad

  • 200g bobby beans
  • 100g dried haricot, soaked over night
  • 1 sprig of lemon thyme
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 corn on the cob
  • 1tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Soak the haricot beans in cold water. I work on 5 times the volume of water to beans.

Drain the beans, place them in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water , add the sprig of thyme and crush the garlic clove lightly  with the back of your hand.

Bring the beans to the boil, reduce the heat to a light simmer and cook the beans until nearly done, add a teaspoon of salt for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Once the beans are cooked let them cool in the cooking liquid.

Top and wash the bobby beans, I quite like the tails left on. Blanch them till tender in salted rapid boiling water and refresh.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Remove the husks from the corn. Rub the oil and seasoning into the cobs.

Roast the corn in the pre-heated oven for 25 - 30 minutes until the kernels are tender, turn the corn a couple of times white roasting. Let the corn cool slightly and remove the kernels with a serrated knife.

Mix the blanched bobby beans, roasted corn kernels, semi-dried tomatoes, drained cooked haricot beans with 2 tbs of the golden onion and balsamic vinaigrette. Set the salad aside to infuse while char-grilling the rump steaks.

Char-grilled Balsamic Rump Steaks

  • 4 5oz 28day hung rump steaks
  • 6 tbs golden onion and balsamic vinaigrette
  • 12 salad onions
  • 1tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat the griddle pan.

Season the steaks on both sides and spoon 1 tbs of the vinaigrette over each steak, rub the vinaigrette in.

Wash the salad onions and remove the hairy roots. Rub the salad onions with the oil and season.

Char-grill the steaks until golden brown and medium rare, approximately 1½–2 minutes on each side if the steaks are 1.5cm thick, it will feel slightly resistant when pressed with your finger.

Char-grill the salad onions until golden and slightly soften.

Let the steaks rest and spoon over more of the golden onion and balsamic vinaigrette while resting.

Arrange the bean and tomato salad on the serving plates, slice the steaks in 1cm thick slices and arrange them over the salad and place the char-grilled salad onions on top. Scatter a few micro cress for garnish and drizzle with a bit of the golden onion and balsamic vinaigrette , serve.

Food Fanatics Tip on Cooking Pulses

Never add the salt at the beginning when cooking dried pulses, the salt makes the dry outside husk tough and the pulses will remain hard. Always soak the beans over night in 5 times the volume water to ensure a well hydrated bean. Always simmer the pulses over low heat, if they boil too fast the beans will cook unevenly an you might end up with burst and ugly looking cooked beans.


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3 Comments to “Char-grilled Balsamic Rump Steak with Heirloom Tomato and Bobby Bean Salad”

  1. James says:

    Those beans remind me how much I used to like growing runner beans longer till they grew beans inside. If only there were more hours in the day……

  2. Laurel says:

    What exactly are ‘bobby beans?’ While I’m familiar with most Brit names for vegetables, I’ve never heard this term used in the U.S.
    Help, please!

    Hi Laurel,
    Bobby Beans are older and fatter green beans, French or Fine Dwarf Beans are the standard bean available most of the time however later on in the season the beans become chunkier and develop seeds inside and in some instances they are slightly fury too these are then called bobby beans.

    Regards
    Maddy

  3. You always make the food sound so much more exotic – Char-grilled Balsamic Rump Steak with Heirloom Tomato and Bobby Bean Salad. I would have probably said Steak with tomato and bean salad. It’s those foodie flourishes that inspire me to be more imaginative about food!

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