Kristen Kish’s Westholme Bavette with Crushed Olive Sauce and Sweetcorn, Snap Pea and Smoked Yoghurt Salad

RECIPE BY

Kristen Kish

Korean-born American chef Kristen Kish was the popular winner of Top Chef in 2012 and has gone onto host other food TV shows including Fast Foodies and Iron Chef. “I am a simpleton when it comes to beautiful cuts of beef,” she says. “I just love letting great meat speak for itself. Salt, pepper, smoke and heat: that’s all you need.”

“This is a BBQ love story for the ages,” says Kristen Kish of our grilled bavette.

Bavette – also known as flank and similar to skirt – is cut from the abdomen. It’s a more textured steak than many fillets and it loves generous seasoning and a very hot cook followed by a long rest. You can use the same technique and accompaniments for other wagyu cuts. When steak is as good as Westholme, Kristen loves to keep it simple and bring in complementary flavours and textures with sauces and sides. This chilli-spiked crushed green olive sauce and the sweetcorn salad have colour and verve and are easy to prepare before you cook the steak.

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Bavette

1 Westholme bavette
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

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Crushed Olive Sauce

1 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 sprigs rosemary
1 cup green pitted olives, drained and crushed
1 tsp chilli flakes, such as Aleppo pepper
6 spring onions / scallions, grilled and finely chopped
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Feta, to serve

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Sweetcorn, Snap Pea and Smoked Yoghurt Salad

3 cups corn kernels, from 5-6 corn cobs (or use frozen)
1 ½ cups snap peas, destringed, sliced
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic, grated
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp basil, torn
1 tbsp mint, torn
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup smoked yoghurt (see below)
Salt and pepper, to taste

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Smoked Yoghurt

1 cup Greek yoghurt
Smoking wood of choice (I like mesquite)

Bavette

Allow steak to come to room temperature, covered. This will take about 30 minutes. Pat steak completely dry with paper towels and trim excess fat.
Very lightly rub grapeseed oil on steak, not enough to drip off, just enough for the seasoning to stick.
Season liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper, seasoning more heavily on the thicker parts of the bavette.
Cooking will vary, depending on type of grill. I have a pellet smoker grill so I sometimes do a low smoke for 30-40 minutes then reverse sear on a hot grill. When grilling, ensure the grilling surface is preheated and place the oiled, seasoned steak down, flat-side first. Turn it a few times during the cooking process, which will take 18-22 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill. I like medium-rare so I will cook until the internal temperature in the thickest part is 49-50C / 120-122F, allowing for carry-over cooking to take it to 53-54C / 128-130F.
Remove steak from grill and set aside, tented with foil if it is in a cool place. Carve with the grain to portion, then against the grain to slice and serve.

Crushed Olive Sauce

Heat olive oil gently then add whole garlic and rosemary sprigs and continue to heat. When the rosemary sizzles, turn off heat and steep for 10 minutes, before removing rosemary and garlic.
Pour the infused oil over the crushed olives. Add chilli flakes and grilled spring onions / scallions.
Meanwhile, melt honey and vinegar together in a small pot. Pour into olive mixture, add salt and pepper to taste and feta at the last minute.

Yoghurt

In a shallow container, spread yoghurt out, exposing as much surface area as possible.
Place that container in a larger container with smoking chips in an aluminum foil nest. Light wood chips then blow them out to generate smoke.
Cover tightly and allow to sit at room temperature for 25-30 minutes. Depending on how much smoke you want, you can relight and create more smoke halfway through the process. This can be done earlier on the day of cooking but is best done on the same day.

Salad

Lightly cook corn in salted, simmering water, drain and refresh in iced water, then drain. Super fresh corn can also be served raw.
Toss with other ingredients.