Tom Yum Steak, Lentil Fritter and Wilted Spinach

This recipe is for a lovely fillet of steak marinated in a Tom Yum sauce accompanied by a pan-fried lentil fritter and some lovely spinach wilted in butter. The bonus of the lentil fritters is the ‘scraps’ that they leave behind in the frying pan after cooking, yum! Chef’s perks!

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 fillet of steak

1 teaspoon of Tom Yum paste

Olive oil

1 small bag of fresh spinach (or other salad leaves if you prefer)

Half a tin of green lentils

Half a shallot, diced

40g fine polenta flour

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Half a dozen small cubes of butter

Salt to taste

Recipe:

In a small bowl mix the Tom Yum paste with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add a few twists of sea salt. Smother the steak fillet with the marinade and leave for about an hour to unctuate.

Put the drained lentils into a jug or some-such, add the diced shallots, garlic powder and the polenta flour and mix thoroughly until evenly combined. Add some of the lentil’s can liquor until you achieve a droppable consistency.

Start wilting the spinach in a saucepan by melting the butter in some olive oil and adding the leaves and again mixing through thoroughly. Put the pan lid on and leave to wilt on a gentle heat stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile heat a good quantity of olive oil (about 3mm deep) in a largish frying pan to fry the fritters. Drop a small amount of the mix into the oil to test the heat then, when hot enough to sizzle the mix, add two good dollops of the fritter mixture, flattening them out with a fish slice. Fry on a highish heat for a few minutes each side until crisp and golden. Flipping the fritter onto the other side is tricky as they can easily break up so use two fish slices to turn them. Some of the lentil mix can make a run for it during the frying process but all’s well and good as these make the lovely crispy ‘scraps’!

Heat another frying pan (I know, I use a lot of pans) to fry off the steak fillet. No extra oil is needed as there’s enough in the marinade. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side leaving the fillet pinkish in the middle. Once cooked set aside for a couple of minutes and then slice into equal slices.

Place a fritter on each plate and decorate with the wilted spinach. Add the slices of steak on top and voila! You’re all done!

Enjoy as always.

The Willoughton Wanderer

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