Soak up the balmy summer air and enjoy the company of friends and family whilst you barbecue. This recipe pairs the eye fillet with a colourful vegetable and couscous salad, drizzled with a punchy herb dressing.
Prep: 30 mins Cook: 25 mins Serves 8 Excellent source of iron Low Sodium
Ingredients
Beef
- 1kg Quality Mark beef eye fillet, cut from the thinner end, trimmed of silver skin
- olive oil for rubbing
Salad
- 2 cups Israeli couscous
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 250g baby carrots, scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise
- 250g baby purple carrots, scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise
- 1 eggplant, cut into 1.5cm slices
- 1 tablespoon chopped preserved lemon (see tips)
- 1 lemon for squeezing
- 4 handfuls baby green leaves
- small handful mint leaves, shredded
Green herb dressing
- 1 well packed cup flat leaf parsley leaves
- 1 well packed cup coriander leaves
- 2 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
- finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- good pinch dried red chilli flakes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Green herb dressing
Place the herbs, spring onion, garlic, lemon zest, cumin and chilli in the bowl of a food processor. Process to roughly chop the herbs. While the processor is on, drizzle in the olive oil followed by the vinegar. Season with salt and place dressing in a small screw top jar. Keep in the fridge.
Heat a barbecue plate until medium-hot.
Beef
Rub the beef with olive oil and place on the barbecue plate. Barbecue for 20 minutes, turning beef 4 times to brown all sides. Lower the heat and barbecue for a further 5 minutes for medium rare beef.
Transfer to a large plate, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover loosely with foil or baking paper and a clean tea towel and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes.
Heat a barbecue grill until medium-hot.
Salad
Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the Israeli couscous and cook for 7-8 minutes until tender. Drain and refresh under cold water to arrest cooking. Drain well, then place in a large bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
Brush eggplant slices with some of the remaining olive oil and place on the grill and cook until very tender. Cut into big chunks and add to the Israeli couscous.
Place the carrots in a bowl with the remaining olive oil and season. Place the carrots on the grill, turning often, until tender or cooked to your liking. Remove and place in with the Israeli couscous.
Add the preserved lemon, greens and mint. Toss gently to combine, adding a little extra olive oil if needed and a good few squeezes of lemon juice. Place on a large shallow serving plate.
To serve
Slice the eye fillet across the grain and arrange on top of the salad. Drizzle with some of the green herb dressing and serve the remainder in a separate small bowl for passing.