Seared Steak Salad with Nectarines, Green Beans and Blackberries

Is this a salad or is it a stir fry? I’m not sure but I’ve come down on the side of salad as only the steak and green beans are cooked and the spicy blackberry dressing is drizzled over rather than cooked like a sauce. Either way it is incredibly delicious and can be served on it’s own or for more stir fry vibes with a mound of fluffy jasmine rice.

This dish makes the most of the late summer/early autumn produce - green beans, nectarines, blackberries from the hedgerows and a generous handful of deliciously fragrant basil. I don’t eat green beans out of season as they are almost always air-freighted from somewhere like Kenya or Peru and I don’t feel comfortable with that. Green beans are very labour intensive to pick - which is why they come from far away (labour costs are too high here). And because they are heat lovers - they don’t get going until late summer, so have a short season. The best place to get them is from a local farm/grower/veg box scheme in late July/August/September.

I used to always make this salad with a ripe mango (instead of nectarines) but, when I was making it on Ireland AM recently, I couldn’t get a ripe mango anywhere, so improvised with nectarines and I liked it even better. I’ve given the option with mango if you prefer or it’s what you have to hand. Blackberries are wonderful in a dressing, they have a sour-sweet tannic quality that adds lots of depth of flavour and they look beautiful too!

If you are looking for a veggie version then seared halloumi would work really well here or some chunky slices of Portobello mushroom would be good too! Remember to replace the fish sauce with soy and/or a bit of miso too.

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 with a couple of other dishes

300g steak of your choice, I particularly like onglet (also known as hangar steak), fillet steak or flat iron steak for this dish
1 tablespoon sunflower oil, plus a little extra
Salt and black pepper
½ cucumber
2 ripe nectarines or one ripe mango
100g green beans
50g blackberries
10g Thai basil leaves (or use regular basil or coriander)
20g peanuts, roasted, peeled and roughly chopped

For the dressing:
50g blackberries
2 garlic cloves, finely grated or chopped
5cm piece of ginger, finely grated or chopped
1 bird’s eye chilli (or use one or a milder chilli if you don’t want it too hot), finely chopped
1 lime, juice only
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
Black pepper

1. Take the steak out of the fridge at least half an hour before you plan to cook it. Drizzle the sunflower oil over both sides of the steak and season generously with salt and black pepper.

2. To make the dressing put the blackberries in mortar and crush with the pestle until you have a blackberry paste. Add the finely grated garlic and ginger and the sliced chilli and crush again into a smooth-ish paste. Add half the lime juice, the fish sauce, honey, sunflower oil, and a generous grind of black pepper and mix well. Taste and add more of the lime juice, fish sauce or honey if needed. It should have a good balance of sharp, salty, sweet and spicy.

3. Halve the nectarines, remove the stone and slice into half-moons. If using mangoes, peel the mango, cut the cheeks off and then slice into thin strips. Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and discard and then and cut the cucumbers into 1/2 cm thick half-moon slices. Put the sliced nectarine, cucumber, and blackberries in a large bowl.

4. Remove the tops of the green beans and cut them in half.

5. Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat. Once hot add the steak and cook for a couple of minutes on each side, how long depends on the thickness of the steak. You are aiming for the steak to be cooked on the rare side of medium-rare. The steak will still feel quite soft when you press it with your finger. If you have a cooking thermometer the temperature inside the steak will be 50°C (the temperature will continue to rise a little after you take it out of the pan). Remove the steak from the pan and set it aside somewhere warm to rest for a couple of minutes.

6. Add a little sunflower oil to the hot pan and throw in the green beans and cook for two minutes, stirring and tossing the whole time, so they are just a little charred. Once cooked add them to the bowl with the nectarine, cucumber, and blackberries. Add half the dressing to the bowl and stir so everything is coated. Put the salad mixture on a serving platter.

7. Slice the steak thinly against the grain and arrange on top of the salad. Drizzle over some more dressing and sprinkle over the basil leaves and roasted peanuts. Serve with plain jasmine rice to counteract the spicy dressing and the remaining dressing on the side.