Carpaccio of Organic shorthorn beef, Herring roe, crispy quail eggs and parmesan

This course, the second course for pop up Belfast, again was designed as a sharing platter. Gary Bell had given us this dish and showed us a bone that he usually would serve this in. Johnny and I thought this would be a great idea until the day all of the bones arrived into the kitchen and the realisation of the mammoth task at hand became apparent. All of the bones had to be removed of marrow, scrapped spotlessly clean and scrubbed. Then boiled in salted vinegar water, cooled, scrapped again and this process repeated. Finally after two days they were then buffed and smoothed by Stuart who restores all of the hotels antiques.

The hard work was well worth all of the effort that Johnny and the team put in as now we have 100 perfectly cleaned bones to use as we wish!

The beef carpaccio was a great choice for the second course, light, full of flavour and well balanced, also because it was served cold it gave the team time to regroup after the scallop course.

The quality of the beef is the most important thing in this dish. Good local Northern Irish beef from a good butcher will do the trick. I would recommend Hannon’s just outside Moira.

This is a great dish and can be simply served on a plate at home without the entire dramatic hay and bone garnish.

Serves 10 people;

Ingredients;

For the beef;

500g beef fillet cut from the centre of the fillet and left in one piece

Maldon salt and cracked black pepper to taste

1tbslp Melted bone marrow or olive oil

For the parmesan crisps;

1 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated through the smallest holes on a box grater.

For the quail eggs;

10 soft boiled quail eggs, each cut in half

2tblsp chopped fresh parsley

2 eggs beaten

3tblsp flour

3tblsp fresh breadcrumbs

For the horseradish aioli;

2 egg yolks
1tblsp lemon juice
300ml of half rendered marrow bone fat and olive oil or all olive oil
3tbsp. prepared white grated horseradish, or to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced or to taste

Maldon salt and pepper to taste

To serve;

1kg sterilized hay or artificial hay

10 cleaned out bones (optional)

20 baby gem lettuce leaves, kept whole

50g Herring roe

1tblsp olive oil

Maldon salt

Cracked black pepper

Method;

For the beef;

Lay the beef onto a work surface and season all over with salt and pepper. Make sure you season well as the beef will be served cold. Place a pan large enough tom hold the beef over high heat. Add the melted marrow or olive oil; add the beef to the pan and brown very quickly on all sides, until golden brown. Remove the beef from the pan straight away and leave to cool.

When cool enough to handle wrap the fillet in cling film tightly to form a perfect cylinder. Place the beef into the freezer and freeze over night.

For the parmesan crisps;

Line a non stick tray with either parchment paper or a nonstick silicone baking pad. Using a tablespoon measurement, drop even mounds of parmesan cheese on the baking sheet. Use your fingers to pat the cheese into a thin circle about 3 inches across in size. Make sure none of the circles are touching. You should get 10 parmesan crisps in total.

Bake five minutes, or until golden and crisp. When the crisps are still warm, cut them through the centre and leave to cool.

For the quail eggs;

Lay 3 small trays onto the work surface. In the first place the flour in the second place the beaten egg and in the third place the breadcrumbs. Dip each egg into the flour, then the beaten egg, and finally the breadcrumbs.

Heat a deep fat fryer to 180c or heat a small pan of oil to 180c. Working in batches, fry until golden brown all over and heated through.

Drain on kitchen paper.

For the horseradish aioli;

Place yolks and lemon juice into the bowl of a blender. Mix lightly. Combine oils and add drop by drop to yolk mixture. As sauce thickens, oil can be added in a very thin trickle. (Avoid adding too much oil at one time, or eggs and oil will not blend.) Add horseradish and garlic, season to taste.

Chill before serving.

To serve;

Remove the beef from the freezer and slice into 30 thin slices.

Place the hay onto a large serving board and place the 10 bones on top. Place two baby gem lettuce leaves into each bone. Place three slices of beef per bone on top of the lettuce. Spoon the aioli over the beef. Spoon 5g per portion of the herring roe on top of the beef. Drizzle all of the bones with olive oil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish each bone with two parmesan crisp halves.

Serve in the middle of the table for all of your guest to share.