Seared Beef Fillet with Thyme

WARNING: The images in this post may disturb viewers who don't like rare meat!


In my ongoing experiment with beef recipes, I decided to try Seared Beef Fillet from John Torode's Beef cookbook. The first good thing about this recipe is that you only need a small amount of a very expensive cut of meat and it goes a long way.


The recipe was surprising simple - cover the meat in ground pepper and thyme, sear quickly in a very hot frying pan, slice thinly. You definitely need a very good knife and some interim sharpening, but I was expecting it to be much harder (even if I did outsource the slicing to my sous chef!).


I really enjoyed this - the meat was really soft and flavoursome and didn't taste raw at all. The flavours throughout were really simple, but you could taste every one - the meat, the lemon, the cheese, the pepper, the olive oil. Really delicious. Probably not for anyone a little queasy about rare/raw meat, but for me - winner! This would make a great starter - quick and easy to prepare and tasty and light to eat.

Seared Beef Fillet with Thyme
From 'Beef'
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main with some bread

12 black peppercorns
1/2 tbsp sea salt flakes
a few thyme sprigs, leaves picked
200g beef fillet
100ml extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon, plus 4 wedges, to serve
2 handfuls mixed leaves, cress and salad sprouts
60g pecorino cheese

Grind the peppercorns and mix with the salt and thyme leaves. Rub the fillet lightly with some olive oil, then rub the pepper mixture into the beef. Heat a ridged griddle pan until very hot and sear the beef on all sides. remove from the pan and leave to cool.

Use a long sharp knife to slice the beef as thinly as possible. Place the slices on a board and press along them with the flat side of the knife blade to extend each slice.

Cover the serving plates with the beef. Season, then drizzle over half the lemon juice. Toss the leaves, cress and sprouts with some olive oil and a little more lemon juice. Scatter the leaves over the beef, and then shave the pecorino on top. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with the lemon wedges.