Beef fillet with chilli and spring onion oil

In a large, heatproof mortar, pound the chilli, spring onions, ginger, garlic and salt to a rough paste with a pestle. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can finely chop the ingredients or pulse them in a food processor before transferring them to a heatproof bowl.

Heat your oven to 200°C. Salt the beef fillet well.

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy frying pan and sear the beef on all sides until a dark-brown crust forms.

This will take about 10 minutes. Transfer to a roasting pan and roast for approximately 15 minutes for rare or 20 minutes for medium-rare.

While the beef is roasting, in the same frying pan you used to sear the meat heat an additional ¼ cup of olive oil until it is very hot. Pour the hot oil over the chilli and spring onion mixture in the mortar and pestle so that it sizzles, stir once and allow to stand until the beef is ready.

Remove the beef from the oven and pour the chilli and spring onion mixture over it. Cover loosely with foil and rest for 10 minutes. Slice the beef thinly and serve with the resting juices that have mixed with the oil.

TIP
Tying a fillet of beef will help it hold its shape as it cooks. Tightly tie lengths of cooking string at 2cm intervals along the length of the fillet, or just ask your butcher to do it for you.