Like a lot of customer favourites (including salmon fishcakes, bang bang chicken and a dessert of iced berries), chopped steak was never taken off the menu at Le Caprice. This is rather like a steak haché – or a large burger without the bun. It’s important to use good-quality beef for this, with at least 20 per cent fat to keep it moist during cooking. Rib trim has a great flavour, or you could use chuck or even a mix, but make sure you tell your butcher what it’s for so that it’s fresh trim.
Timings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
- 1kg good-quality, coarsely minced beef (20% fat)
- vegetable oil, for brushing
For the sauce
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 30ml rapeseed or vegetable oil
- 1 x 227g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp American mustard
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Method
- Mould the beef into four even-sized balls then flatten them and refrigerate until required.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. Gently cook the onion in the oil until soft but not coloured (at least 10 minutes).
- Add the chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then mix in the mustard and tomato ketchup.
- A charcoal grill or barbecue is ideal for cooking the chopped steaks; alternatively, preheat a ribbed griddle pan.
- Lightly oil and season the chopped steaks, then cook them for about 3-4 minutes on each side for medium-rare, or more or less time as preferred.
- Serve with the sauce at room temperature.