Five Founders Spinalis Dorsi with Fennel
Description
One of the sweetest and softest (not that tenderness should be your marker for quality) muscles on the carcase. If you look at a scotch fillet it’s the “lip” that runs around the side and top of the steak. This muscle does get smallest as you go down the scotch fillet and actually disappears completely before you get to the striploin. Ask your butcher for a scotch fillet steak from the chuck end of the primal in order to get the biggest piece of Spinalis Dorsi. Removing it from the scotch is a bit of fun more than anything else but allows this muscle to really shine in a way it won’t when left on the scotch.
Ingredients
Instructions
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As with all meat it’s going to be best at room temperature. Because we’re going to cook 1 part of this meat now and not the other we need to do this cutting and trimming step straight from the fridge. Then we can return the eye muscle to the fridge before continuing on with the next step. This is a bit of fun and an easy way to do a little butchery at home. In order to do this recipe you need to choose a scotch fillet with as large a portion of spinalis dorsi as possible. A knife is almost not required to remove the spinalis dorsi from the longissimus. With your fingers start to tease the 2 muscles away from each other. You will come across a couple of points where the knife is required to cut the 2 pieces apart. Once removed you may notice a few points where there is silver skin attached to the muscle. Simply cut these away as needed. Once trimming is done roll the muscle in on itself so it is round and tie it with butcher’s twine. This step should be enough time to bring the meet to room temperature ready to cook.
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Lightly brush the rolled steak with olive oil and season well on all sides with salt. Sear the steak in a hot pan and keep an eye on it as sometimes it will start to unroll and lift. To combat this place a weight of some sort on the steak. This will stop the steak unrolling and keep in in firm contact with the pan ensuring a perfectly caramelized face. Once the steak shape has set flip and continue to cook. This steak should only take about 5 minutes to cook before placing on a resting tray to rest.
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While resting add olive oil to the pan and leave on low heat. Remove the top of the fennel and reserve the fronds. Halve the bulb top to bottom then slice about 3-5mm lengthwise. Add these to the pan with olive oil. Cook very slowly to soften the fennel but not colour. Once slightly translucent, add the peas and season well. Warm through and finish with fennel fronds.
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Remove the butcher’s twine from the steak and slice. Add the fennel and pea mix to the plate and top with sliced steak. Season with sea salt and a little more extra virgin olive oil.
