*This recipe appeared in my column in the Sunday Mercury in January 2007
“I knew I’d be lucky to find any shop selling barbecue charcoal in January because all large stores remove items once there out of season, but luckily my local garage still had a couple of left over disposable barbecues which I snapped up. Although it was a sunny January day the nice lady behind the counter thought I was being a bit too ambitious to be barbecuing so early in the year. You see I’d woken up the other morning with a idea of putting a new twist on pepper steak and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like winter get in my way.”
Ingredients
2 x 200g (8oz) Fillet Steaks
100g (4oz) unsalted butter
1Tbsp Black peppercorns
1 Tbsp Brandy
1 Bag of rocket leaves
1 Punnet of baby plum tomatoes
2 Handfuls of wood chips
2 Rashers of streaky bacon
1dessertspoon of Olive oil
1 disposable barbecue
1 disposable tin foil tray the same size
Method
1. Soak the wood chips in cold water at least 2 hours before you need them.
2. Wash rocket leaves and baby plum tomatoes, then drain.
3. Cut up the butter into small pieces so that it will soften quickly.
4. Light barbecue per the instructions.
5. Crush peppercorns in mortar and pestle but not too fine.
6. Mix butter and peppercorns together then add the brandy, stirring well until brandy has been absorbed into the butter.
7. Shape the butter into a few small "scoops" using a dessertspoon then place the scoops onto a tray covered with parchment paper and refrigerate.
8. Wrap one rasher of bacon around the side of each steak, using a toothpick to pin it in place.
9. After the barbecue coals have turned grey (about 40 minutes) and are tempered, this is to avoid flare up on the grill. Drain the woodchips and carefully make a bed of them on the lit barbecue. There needs to be enough woodchips so the steaks can rest on the chips not on the grill.
10. Cover the steaks with the disposable roasting tray and allow them to smoke for 10-15 minutes. Check once every five minutes to make sure the steaks are smoking not grilling.
11. Once steaks are smoked, remove the bacon and any woodchips stuck to them and brush fillets with olive oil.
11. Carefully remove woodchips from top of the barbecue into a fireproof tray then grill the steaks to your liking, making sure to seal all sides of each fillet to seal in the juices.
13. To serve, place a little mound of rocket leaves into the centre of each plate. Scatter a few
plum tomatoes onto the rocket. Place on the steak and top with the peppercorn butter.
Chef’s Tips
Most large supermarkets or hardware store that sell barbecue equipment in the summer will also usually sell wood chips. There are various types like Oak, Hickory but you can also find wood chips from various fruit trees including Plum, Apple and Damson.
