Beef fillet coated with leek and beetroot ash powder, celeriac puree, braised celeriac and braised fennel.

I saw a cooking show (I think it was masterchef professionals UK) where they dusted eye fillet with burnt hay ash and cooked it in this manner.  Along with not having access to hay in Dubai I also don't think I'd like the taste of burnt grass on my beef.  Leek however when burnt retain a certain sweetness and I thought would work a treat instead of hay.  Beetroot powder is also a lovely thing to do, mandolined, cooked at a low temp till crisp and blended to a fine powder.  Leek is done by using the green, cooking under the grill until blackened and crisp and blended to a fine powder.  I combined the two for additional sweetness and colour.

This beef was dusted in the powders that I added salt and ground black pepper to, then wrapped tightly in cling film and tied at each end.  The size I used was 150gm fillets per person and I cooked the wrapped beef in boiling water for 2 minutes then took them out to rest in the plastic wrap for around 8 minutes.  I was using some good eye fillet here so was after a rare finish.

The result was SUPERB.  Beautifully perfect rare, rested to perfection, tender as butter.  The ashes gave not only a stunning colour but a roasted sweet taste that the ash imbibed.

I made a good jus and paired it classically with celeriac puree and braised and some braised fennel.  Yum.  Yum.  Did I mention YUM??