Slow cooking cheaper cuts of meat isn’t always the best option if you’re on a budget. While the meat is cheaper to buy, I can’t neglect the fact that energy costs money. This beef salad requires very little cooking and uses a cut of stewing beef.

You do need to plan ahead for this meal so I prepare the beef the night before. A sharp knife is also essential as you can’t make this salad without the finest slivers of beef, otherwise it becomes chewy and tough.

Rather than using expensive croutons for this recipe, I just toast up some bread until crispy, allow it to cool and then rip it to pieces.

Beef Salad (serves 5)

Ingredients

• 200g stewing steak in one piece
• 4 large tomatoes
• 2 large green chillis
• 8 slices of toast (white or brown it doesn’t matter)
• 2 teaspoons each of honey, soy sauce, olive oil and white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

Method

I do this the night before I intend to eat the beef salad, but you could sear the steak at lunch, and have this for dinner.

Take a heavy bottomed non-stick frying pan and heat it gradually until it’s smoking. Sear the steak for 4 minutes each side. I don’t use oil as there is normally some fat/marbling in the meat which helps the searing process. Remove the steak from the pan and put it on a plate, cover with cling film and allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating for at least 3 hours.

To serve:

Slice the tomatoes and chillis thinly, rip the toast into bite sized portions. Mix the remaining ingredients for the dressing in a large salad bowl, then toss the chopped tomatoes, chilli and toast in the dressing. Allow the toast to soak up some of the dressing.

Take a very sharp knife and slice the beef as finely as you possibly can. Wafer thin strips work best. Add to the salad bowl and toss everything together once last time before dividing into portions and eating.

Wholesome

Publication day is rapidly approaching and the book is now available to pre-order on my publisher’s website. I’ve arranged a discount code for my readers so use “wholesome20” when ordering to buy the book for €15 which also includes free postage. You can click on the image of the book cover below to order.