“This dish is inspired by our wagyu cooked on pine branches with fermented capsicum paste. You don’t need to use wagyu — grass-fed, or organic beef would work here, too. I love rib-eye, it is full of flavour, texture and fattiness, and in my opinion the best cut ever,” says chef Justin James.
Ingredients
Pickled onions
Charred capsicum paste
Method
1.For pickled onions, place balsamic, sugar, 80ml water and 2½ tsp sea salt flakes in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Place onions in a heatproof bowl; pour over pickling liquid; cool completely before using.
2.For charred capsicum paste, preheat a lightly greased barbecue or char-grill pan to high heat. Barbecue capsicum, turning occasionally until charred all over (20 minutes). Place in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and stand to steam for 15 minutes. Quarter capsicum, discard skin and seeds. Place capsicum in a food processor, with remaining ingredients and pulse to a paste. Season to taste.
3.For dressing, pulse garlic, herbs, juice, ground coriander and oil in a small food processor until finely chopped. Season.
4.Drain onions and place in a bowl with asparagus. Remove all but 5cm pine needles from pine branches then trim ends to a sharp point. Skewer a piece of wagyu in an “S” shape onto each pine skewer, followed by a piece of onion then asparagus; repeat 3 times finishing with a piece of beef on each skewer. Refrigerate until required.
5.Drizzle skewers with oil and grill for 2½ minutes each side or until cooked to medium; rest for 5 minutes.
6.Spoon capsicum paste onto a platter and top with skewers. Drizzle with herb dressing and scatter with baby chives and cracked black pepper.
