Smoked salt and avocado oil angus rump with raw mushroom salad

Masterchef Asia judge (and former Masterchef Australia contestant) Audra Morrice shares this recipe with Bite. It comes from her My Kitchen Your Table cookbook.

Audra is a guest chef at the Variety of Chefs black-tie fundraiser for disadvantaged children, to be held at Skycity on August 18, 2016. See href="http://www.variety.org.nz/whats-on/skycity-variety-of-chefs/">here for more on the event.

Beef

800 g	Beef rumps, Angus, 5cm thick (Main)
2 tsp	Smoked salt, from The Original Smoke and Spice Company in Marlborough (Main)
3 Tbsp	Avocado oil, Audra used Grove avocado oil; extra virgin olive oil can be used instead (Main)

Raw mushroom salad and dressing

100 g	Cloud ear fungus, or use rehydrated wood ear fungus (Main)
150 g	Enoki mushrooms (Main)
150 g	Oyster mushrooms (Main)
150 g	Shiitake mushrooms, pickled, see recipe below (Main)
4 small	Radishes, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced
2 sprigs	Coriander leaves, picked
1 large	Orange, juice and zest
3 ½ Tbsp	Tamari soy sauce
1 ½ tsp	Dark soy sauce
3 ½ Tbsp	Brown rice vinegar
4	Shallots, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp	Brown sugar
1 Tbsp	Sesame oil

Pickled mushrooms (makes 1.5 cups)

½ cup	White wine vinegar
½ cup	Sugar
½ cup	Water
1 pinch	Salt
250 g	Shiitake mushrooms, fresh

Directions

1. To cook the meat, heat oven to 180C. Marinate the beef by rubbing on a sprinkling of smoked sea salt and a good drizzle of avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
2. Heat an ovenproof frying pan on high heat and sear the rump on both sides until caramelised and charred. Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until medium rare. The internal temperature of the meat should be approximately 55C.
3. Remove from the oven, place on a plate, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Slice thinly on the diagonal across the grain and serve with raw mushroom salad.
4. To make the salad, in a large mixing bowl, tear mushrooms into strips, toss in the pickled mushrooms (see below), radish and coriander leaves. Dress the salad just before serving by combining the orange zest and juice with the soy sauces, the brown rice vinegar, the shallot, brown sugar and sesame oil.

Pickled mushrooms

1. Place the vinegar, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil and continue to boil until the liquor is slightly reduced. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Slice the mushrooms into 3mm thickness. Place in a ceramic or glass bowl and pour the pickling liquor over the mushrooms. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes.