Our Executive Chef Fran Martinez shares with us something a little bit different to his usual recipes.
He created 5 different ones that can complement meat either individually or combined in one same dish. On this occasion we used retired dairy cow beef, but these can be used with any meat.
Red Pepper Purée
For this, we chose to use piquillo peppers, due to their sweetness. If you don't have any, normal red bell peppers would work marvellously too.
Ingredients
200g Roasted piquillo peppers
3g Salt
2g Black pepper
Method
Add all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend for roughly a minute. Once this is done, you can pass the mixture through a sieve if you'd prefer it to be smoother, but you can leave it as it is too.
Piquillo Pepper Aioli
We can actually steal some of our previous recipe to create this one. We can add the red pepper purée to a garlic mayonnaise - recipe below.
Ingredients
100ml Olive oil
3g Salt
2g Black pepper
1 Egg
1 Garlic clove
Method
Add all the ingredients into a bowl. Using a handheld blender, start slowly blending from the bottom of the bowl, allowing the mixture to thicken. Halfway through, add the red pepper purée, and mix it in thoroughly with the blender. If you'd like to keep this in the fridge for a few days, add a few drops of lemon, which helps preserve the aioli.
Charred Pickled Onion Petals
Acidity also works great with steak, and this is such a simple accompaniment to try, Fazendeiros.
Ingredients
100g Pickled onions
Method
Heat a cast-iron skillet, adding a small amount of oil. Leave until the pan is up to temperature. Cut the onions in half, and put them flat-side-down in the pan for two minutes. Allow them to cool down, and separate the layers into individual petals. They can be put back into the pickle juice if you'd like to keep them for a few days.
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
These Potatoes are incredibly fluffy on the inside, yet amazingly crisp on the outside. They make for the perfect side dish to accompany any meat.
Ingredients
300g New potatoes
8g Salt
2g Black pepper
2 Garlic cloves
2 Rosemary stems
50ml Olive oil
Method
In a large pot of boiling water, boil the potatoes until soft, which should take 20-25 minutes. Drain well, and then carefully flatten the potatoes over an oven tray, making sure to keep them intact (smashed but not falling apart). Top them with olive oil, finely sliced garlic and fresh thyme, and place into the oven for around 10 minutes at 240 degrees, after which they're ready to be served.
Salsa Verde
Another fantastic way of bringing acidity to a dish is salsa verde. It's very easy to prepare, and also works perfectly with fish.
Ingredients
100ml Olive oil
80ml White wine vinegar
40g Parsley
3g Salt
2g Black pepper
Method
Mix all the ingredients inside a blender, and blend for 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture into a glass, and leave it to rest inside the fridge until chilled.
Watch Fran combine everything together in this video
Do you ever use any of these fantastic additions with your meals, Fazendeiros? We'd love to see how you use them over on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.