Marinated and grilled beef bavette with smoky salad onions

For sheer tastiness, you can’t really do better than bavette steak, says Ben Tish. Cut from the cow’s well-exercised abdominal muscles, the steak should be sliced against the grain to maximise tenderness; a little brining also helps. This is not melt-in-the-mouth fillet. Bavette does need a little chewing, but its flavour more than makes up for that, and the smoky onions and zingy, crunchy salsa in this recipe – best cooked on a barbecue – are the perfect accompaniments

Serves 4 4 x 100g pieces of beef bavette (you could also use onglet or thinly sliced rump) brine for red meat (see below) 100ml extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped finely grated zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves 8 large salad onions or bulbous spring onions crunchy shallot and garlic salsa cruda (see below) olive oil, for cooking sea salt and black pepper For the brine: 100g coarse sea salt 50g demerara (brown) sugar 1 tbsp honey 2 bay leaves 8 black peppercorns 4 cloves For the salsa: 1 large banana shallot, or 2 medium-sized ones, finely chopped 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp olive oil juice of ½ lemon sea salt and black pepper

• To make the brine, place all the ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan with 1 litre of water. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring as you go to dissolve the salt and sugar. Remove from the heat and leave to cool before using. • Place the beef in the brine and leave, covered, for 1 hour. Drain and transfer to a clean bowl. Add the extra virgin olive oil, garlic, chilli, lemon zest and thyme, then leave to marinate for at least 1 hour. • Light the barbecue. Remove the beef from the marinade, season with salt and pepper and place on the grill in the direct heat zone. Keep a close eye on the steaks: bavette cooks quickly as it is

quite thin, and it shouldn’t be cooked past medium-rare otherwise it will be tough. Grill for 2 minutes on each side to char, then move to the cooler edge of the barbecue to rest for a couple of minutes. • Cut the onions in half lengthwise, keeping the stalks intact. Toss them with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on the grill in the direct heat zone and cook for 3-4 minutes until charred and tender. • To make the salsa, mix all the ingredients together, seasoning to taste and adding the lemon juice at the last minute. Thickly slice the steaks and serve with the salsa cruda and grilled onions.