Stuffed grilled flank steak with roasted garlic, basil, pecorino, crisp shallots and rocket – Saturday Kitchen RecipesSaturday Kitchen Recipes

Preparation time
overnight

Cooking time
10 to 30 mins

Serves
Serves 4

By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the brine

100g/3½oz salt
70g/2½oz light brown sugar
50ml/2fl oz red wine vinegar
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp pink peppercorns
small bunch thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, smashed

For the stuffed grilled flank steak

1 whole piece flank or bavette steak (around 500g/1lb 2oz)
1 bulb garlic
drizzle olive oil
1 bunch fresh basil
1 chopped green chilli, chopped
50g/1¾oz pecorino cheese, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the shallots

small handful plain flour
2 banana shallots, thinly sliced
dash oil

To serve

½ lemon, juice only
1 bag wild rocket leaves
20g/¾oz pecorino, grated
extra virgin olive oil

Method

To make the brine, bring 1 litre/1¾ pints of water to a simmer with the salt, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, black peppercorns, pink peppercorns, thyme, bay leaves and garlic. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, remove from the heat and leave to cool.
For the stuffed grilled flank steak, butterfly the steak by making a cut horizontally through the steak, stopping before you get all the way to the other end, then open it up like a book. Put the beef in the cooled brine and leave overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Discard the papery outer layers of the whole garlic bulb, leaving the rest of the bulb intact. Trim the top of the bulb to expose the individual cloves. Place in a tray, drizzle oil over and then wrap in foil. Transfer to the hot oven and roast for about 30 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft.
Remove the steak from the brine, pat it dry with kitchen paper and then bash it a bit using a meat tenderiser (a rolling pin or pan will do if you don’t have one). Season the inside with salt and freshly ground black pepper and oil well.
Once the garlic is cool, remove the soft cloves from the bulb.
Preheat the grill to hot.
Spread the garlic all over one side of the steak, add the basil leaves, chilli and pecorino, allowing a border all the way around. Fold the other side back over and bash together with the meat tenderiser.
Oil and season the outside with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the steak on a tray under the hot grill and cook on both sides for around 7-8 minutes on each side. Allow to rest well before slicing.
For the shallots, season the flour with salt and freshly ground black pepper and toss the shallots in the seasoned flour. Heat a dash of oil in a pan and fry the shallots until crisp and golden-brown.
To serve, dress the rocket with the lemon juice in a bowl. Season the shallots and toss them with the olive oil and lemon-dressed rocket and the pecorino. Slice the steak and serve with the shallots and rocket.