A flavoursome cheaper cut, perfect as a sharing dish
Enjoy bavette steak and tomatoes with maple butter and never look back.
SERVES: 4
PREP TIME: 5 mins
COOKING TIME: 15 mins
DIFFICULTY: easy
IDEAL FOR: a special meal, meat-treat night, midweek meal
BUDGET: £
Bavette steak and tomatoes with maple butter
I love bavette steak.
It’s cheaper than your ribeye, sirloin and fillet steaks but it is so incredibly delicious.
And I recently came across this recipe with maple butter from my new Mezcla Cookbook.
This type of dish with juicy sweet tomatoes and perfectly cooked steak.
Would be up there with ‘my last `meal choice’.
(*the other is my dirty hangover secret food…KFC. I know I should have kept that to myself).
The key as always is in the quality i.e. go for grass-fed if you can.
And really good tomatoes.
Bavette steak aka flank
There are so many names for different cuts, it can get confusing.
The bavette steak or flank is just below the belly, close to the hind leg.
This cut is lean and very flavourful.
Like the skirt, it needs careful fast, hot pan-frying and should be cooked rare and sliced thinly.
It’s also good for braising or marinating and cut thinly (across the grain)
But does it matter if you use other cuts?
What is the difference between bavette, skirt and hanger steak?
The bavette and skirt steaks can often be interchangeable as they are similar, long, and flat-shaped.
But the bavette is the superior cut.
It’s slightly thicker and therefore more tender and harder to overcook.
It also contains less sinew and fat.
The hanger steak (or onglet) sits in between the bavette and skirt steak and has similar beefy flavours and fibrous textures.
Buying bavette steak
If you can find one, choose a dry-aged steak; it will be a little more expensive but has a deeper flavour.
It’s a pretty lean cut but will have a little marbling.
And this is good as it will keep the meat juicy.
And fat equals flavour so you can get a nice ‘beefy’ flavour from this cut.
How to prepare bavette steak
Because bavette is quite fibrous.
So, a marinade using acidic ingredients – citrus, vinegar, alcohol, yoghurt – helps to tenderise the meat.
Or if you don’t want to use a marinade, then using a meat hammer or rolling pin will tenderise the cut.
Tips on how to ensure a cracking steak
A few basic tips:
- Make sure the meat is at room temperature before cooking.
- If you’re slicing the steak before serving, be sure to go across the grain.
- For most grill-friendly cuts, about five minutes is enough.
- And make sure you rest the meat.
Bavette steak and tomatoes with maple butter
Ingredients
- x 4 pieces of bavette steak (if you have a large piece of bavette, just cut it into portions so it cooks more evenly)
- 4 large tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- sea salt
- lemon
Marinade
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Ufra Chilli substitute Aleppo pepper or smoked sweet or hot paprika
- 1 tsp Ground black lime – tart flavour like fresh lemon or lime juice and sumac (you can find it in supermarkets. If whole, crush them and whizz them a blender. Then store the extra ground lime for another time)
- 50 grind twists of ground pepper
Maple butter
- 40 g unsalted clarified butter
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 1/2 tsp maple syrup
- 1/2 garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp Ground Back Lime (sub in lime juice and sumac)
- 1/2 tsp Ufra Chilli (substitute Aleppo pepper or smoked sweet or hot paprika)
Instructions
- Bring the bavette steaks to room temp. and pat dry.Mix the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and rub all over the bavette. Set aside for 10 mins – 60 mins.
- Using a cast iron frying pan or a non-stick pan place on very high heat. Add the steaks, making sure they aren't on top of each other and cook for 2 – 4 mins on each side.Place on a plate and rest for 10 mins.
- While the steak is resting, slice the red onion thinly, cut the tomatoes into slices and scatter on a large serving plate. Sprinkle some sea salt over top and a drizzle of olive oil
Maple butter
- In a saucepan melt, the butter then turn off the heat and stir in the soy sauce, maple syrup, garlic, chilli and black lime
- Slice the bavette steak (against the grain) and arrange it on the serving plate with the tomatoes. Sprinkle some sea salt on the steaks then spoon over the maple butter.Serve with some lemon wedges.
Notes
References: GreatBritishChefs
Recipe inspiration: Mezcla Cookbook