Skirt steak and ember-baked onions with blue cheese and hazelnuts

Skirt steak and ember-baked onions with blue cheese and hazelnuts

Autumn

Once upon a time, or roughly a million years ago, early man discovered fire and began cooking some of the food they ate. Back then, there weren’t any pots or pans or grills. They’d just chuck the food straight into the fire and let it cook right there in the embers. Today it seems like a strange way to cook, particularly if you’ve just bought an expensive piece of steak, why on earth would you throw it in the fire? The truth is, it’s an amazing way to cook. The steak has the most incredible flavour and the onions are just so sweet.

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 4 firm onions
  • a knob of butter
  • 4–5 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
  • 75g (2½oz) hazelnuts, bashed
  • 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) skirt steak
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 150g (5½oz) your favourite soft blue cheese
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

You’ll need a hot fire going for this recipe with a good bed of chunky glowing embers.

Make a little clearing for the onions in the middle of the fire. Nestle the onions into this space. If the embers are burning with too much ferocity, the onions will burn before they’re cooked through. You’ll need to pay attention as they cook, moving the embers and turning the onions around every 5–10 minutes so they cook evenly. They should take about 1 hour to cook through – they should be soft and may well be bubbling from their tops.

While all this is happening, set a small pan over the fire and add the butter. When it’s bubbling, add the thyme and bashed hazelnuts and cook them gently for 3–4 minutes, until lovely and toasty. Add a good pinch of salt to the buttery nuts, then remove from the heat.

To cook the steak, make sure you have a really hot bed of white, glowing embers – charcoal works well here. When ready to cook, blow or fan away the excess ash from the embers. Rub the steak with the extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay the steak on top of the embers and cook for 3–4 minutes on each side. To judge ‘doneness’, press the steak with your finger and see how much give it has. If it feels fairly soft, it’s still quite rare. Medium-rare is better for skirt steak. Look for an internal temperature of about 55°C (131°F). Rest the steak by the fire while you put the dish together.

Use a very sharp knife (I use a serrated one) to halve the baked onions from root to tip. You can lift the flesh from the onion skin or leave the skins on, either way place them cut-side up on a serving plate. Brush away any ash from the steak, then cut it into 2–3cm (¾–½in) slices across the grain. Arrange the steak around the onions. Season everything generously with flaky sea salt and black pepper. Crumble over the blue cheese then spoon over the buttery hazelnuts, making sure everything gets really well covered. Serve with good bread.

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