Sous vide pepper steak with fennel and pomegranate salad

#NotQuiteNigella

The idea for this salad comes from Lorraine Elliott who is the premier Australian food blogger known as Not Quite Nigella.

So how was your day? I had a pretty good one. I got a couple of walks in, participated in a teleconference for work, picked up new spectacles, and ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses.

Ingredients

Scotch fillet steak
Iodised salt
Whole peppercorns
Garlic
Butter

Fennel
Pomegranate arils
Red onion
Parsley
Mint
Lime juice (3 tablespoons)
Fish sauce (3 tablespoons)
Icing sugar (1 tablespoon)
Warm water (1 tablespoon)

Scotch fillet steak out of the sous vide water bath

Scotch fillet steak out of the sous vide water bath which has been seasoned with freshly ground black whole peppercorns — Scotch fillet steak out of the sous vide water bath

Instructions

Purchase the piece of steak.
Vacuum seal in a plastic bag after seasoning with iodised salt.
Refrigerate overnight.
Set up the sous vide water bath.
Turn on the precision cooker and set the temperature for 57 °C and the timer for 2 hours.
When the water bath temperature reaches 57 °C, add the steak into the water bath and cook for 2 hours.
Remove the steak from the water bath and open the bag and remove the steak to a cutting board with a sheet of kitchen towel on it.
Dry the surfaces of the steak with kitchen paper.
Grind the whole peppercorns in a mortar with a pestle and then press the pepper into the flesh of the meat.
Heat a cast-iron skillet to a high temperature so when you splash a little water on it the water vaporises immediately.
Add a little high vapour point oil and brush over the surface of the hot skillet.
Lay the steak on the skillet and turn frequently until the Maillard reaction is to your liking.
Add in a knob of butter and some crushed garlic and baste your meat.
Allow the steak to rest.
With a Dick boning knife, dissect the spinalis dorsi from the longissimus dorsi. Set the spinalis dorsi aside and refrigerate for lunch meat.
With a Dick butchers knife slice the meat thinly.

Shave the fennel bulb with a mandolin while wearing a safety glove.
Shave some red onion with a mandolin while wearing a safety glove.
Whack a pomegranate to get the arils out. Avoid wearing a white T-shirt while doing this. If you have no concerns about how you look, wear an apron.
Coarsely chop some parsley and mint leaves.
Put all the salad stuff into a mixing bowl.
Mix the icing sugar and warm water and then add in the lime juice and fish sauce.
Dress the salad.