This is a riff on a Dish magazine recipe by Claire Aldous that we have made over and over again when we’re entertaining. The salsa is so delicious it steals the beef’s thunder and there is enough of it that it takes the place of a vege dish. We love this with a simple green salad and some great sourdough.
Festive beef fillet with pomegranate, red pepper and pinenuts
Serves 6
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 25-40 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 beef fillet, about 1.2kg
For the marinade
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salsa
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely diced
• 3 roasted red capsicum (about 200g)
• ½ cup (70g) pinenuts, toasted
• ½ cup pomegranate arils
• small bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Trim the beef fillet of sinew and large clumps of fat. After mixing the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl, rub it over the beef.
Heat a BBQ or grill pan to a medium high heat and cook the fillet for 25 minutes for medium rare, or to your liking, turning it so it is browned and caramelised all over.
As the meat is cooking prepare the salsa. In a small bowl mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar and red onion. Leave to marinate while you chop the other ingredients.
Mix in the red pepper, pinenuts, pomegranate and parsley. Season generously.
Remove the beef from the heat and cover loosely with tinfoil. Leave to rest for 15 minutes. Slice the beef on to a platter. Season with flaky sea salt and top with the salsa.
Pomegranate, lime and avocado crudo
Serves 4–6 as a snack
Prep time 10 minutes
Cure time 5 minutes
Pomegranate juice’s sweetness is a lovely complement for lime juice in this recipe. We’ve used kingfish, avocado to provide creaminess and mint for freshness.
Ingredients
• 1 large fillet (180-200g) fresh white fish, we like snapper or kingfish
• ½ pomegranate (you will extract 2 tbsp juice and 2 tbsp arils)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• ½ avocado, cut into small cubes
• few mint leaves, sliced
• 2 tbsp best extra virgin olive oil
• flaky sea salt
Method
Slice the fish on an angle (with your knife at about 30 degrees) as thinly as you can. Lay the fish on a serving platter, cover with baking paper and chill.
Squeeze the pomegranate over a small bowl to extract 2 tablespoons of juice. Mix the pomegranate juice and lime juice.
Bang the pomegranate with the back of a wooden spoon over a bowl to get 2 tablespoons of arils. Set aside.
Five minutes before you are ready to serve, spoon over the dressing and leave the fish to cure for 3-5 minutes.
Scatter over the avocado, pomegranate arils and mint. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Serve immediately.
Harissa Halloumi
Serves 4
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 10 minutes
A plate of hot cheese goes beautifully on the table as an entrée and is a nice way to treat your vegetarian guests. This is the perfect nibble with a cold drink. Halloumi tastes best when it’s hot so don’t make this in advance.
Ingredients
• 200g block halloumi
• 2 tbsp Fatima’s Toasted Harissa
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp (20g) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped
• small bunch mint, leaves picked and sliced
Method
Cut the halloumi into slices about 1cm thick. Mix the harissa paste and olive oil in a small bowl, coating each halloumi slice.
Heat a large frying pan over a high heat. Pan fry the halloumi for 1 minute on each side until caramelised. You may need to do this in batches to ensure the pan is hot. The halloumi needs to fry and keep its shape, rather than melt.
Serve immediately sprinkled with pistachio and mint.
Spiced pork belly
Serves 8
Prep time 15 minutes + marinating
Cook time 2½ hours
This is a great dinner party dish because it can be prepared in advance and cooked for a couple of hours while you’re mingling. The spices in this dish lighten the richness of the pork and take it in an exotic direction. Cooking the pork in liquid ensures it comes out moist every time. We love to serve it with the freshness of a crunchy green slaw.
Ingredients
• 1.5kg pork belly skin on, boneless, in one piece
• 1 heaped tsp flaky sea salt
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground sweet paprika
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 5 green cardamom pods, cracked
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 175ml apple juice
• juice of 1 orange
• 175ml (¾ cup) water
Method
Score the fat on the top of the pork belly in straight lines about 1cm apart. Rub the pork all over with flaky sea salt. Place in a roasting dish lined with baking paper.
Grind the coriander seeds, fennel seeds, ginger, paprika, cumin seeds and turmeric in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Rub the spice mix all over the meat and between the scored lines.
If time allows, leave the pork belly uncovered overnight (or as long as you can) in the refrigerator to dry. The next day, take it out of the fridge an hour before cooking.
Preheat the oven to 240°C.
Put the green cardamom pods and cinnamon stick under the pork. Pour in both juices and water up to where the fat begins so all the meat is submerged in liquid. Some pork bellies are fatter than others so you may not need all the liquid. Roast for 30 minutes. Decrease the oven temperature to 170°C and roast for a further 2 hours until the pork is soft and the skin is crispy. Top up with a little more water if the roasting dish goes dry.
Remove from the oven, cover loosely with tinfoil and leave to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Accompany with green slaw and an orange dressing.
An edited extract from Fatimas, by Kirsty Senior and Sophie Gilmour (Beatnik, RRP $59.99).
