Beef Caprese Lattice

I have loved looking at images of pies with lattice tops on the internet but I've never braved one.  Then recently I got the sweetest idea from looking at some of the pre-made meals in the butcher's window.  I saw a puff pastry latticed steak with feta and spinach and I thought -  this looks like something I could make.  I had also recently been a bit obsessed with caprese salad, so I thought - why not combine these?  Caprese salad is a traditional (and delicious) Italian salad of tomato, mozarella and basil leaves.  It is a simple yet beautiful combination.  I'd been toying with making a steak and caprese dish and thought - why not combine a few things I've been dreaming about into one and make a lattice topped beef caprese dish!  I was not disappointed.  It's certainly worth a try and the flavours work beautifully together.

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of puff pastry
• 2 small lean steaks
• 90g buffalo mozarella, sliced
• 8 sun dried tomatoes
• 8 basil leaves

Potential Spins

If you like to pack more of a flavour punch in your cheese then you could always swap the mozzarella for feta.  Of course using tomatoes or cherry tomatoes would also be more traditional than sun dried tomatoes, but I am a sucker for a good SDT. This meal could be spun a zillion ways.  You could swap the beef for chicken and top it with basil pesto, bacon, shallots, any kind of cheese and sun dried tomatoes (yummy idea actually), or you could swap it for pork and top with wholegrain mustard or apple sauce, fennel and spinach, or any other combination that you can think of.  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius
2. Season your steak on both sides with salt and pepper while heating your frypan to high heat. Sear the steak for 1 minute per side to just seal it, then allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Lay out the puff pastry on damp paper towel to keep it moist.  Place the steak in the centre.  Then layer the basil leaves, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes.
4. Chop the pastry at the head and tail of the steak.  Slice approximately 1 cm slices along both side of the puff pastry from the edge of the steak outwards.
   
5. Fold the slices diagonally up the steak, as pictured.  Start by laying the right piece, then top with the left piece.
   
   Next, lift the first right piece again to lay the second left piece underneath it.  Lay the second right piece over the first left, and then tuck it under the second left.  It is kind of like plaiting (over, under, over, under).
   
   
     Continue this until you cover the steak.  You may find that this leaves a few pieces un-used.
   
   Chop off the un-used pieces, tidy up the sides of the pastry and use some leftover pastry to cover the ends.  
   
   This is not as complicated as it looks and you feel like a champion once you have done it. Cover a tray with baking paper and lay them on top.

   

   My first attempt is on the left (slices too thick).  Second attempt is on the right.  This worked, but the slices could be even thinner if you liked.

6. Bake for 35 minutes or until the puff pastry is ready. The steak will be ready as well.  Serve with a green salad or asparagus spears pan fried with lemon juice.

Our Take Aways

Yum yum yum.  Can't wait to try the potential spins I mentioned above.  This is a fun activity to do together so would be a good date night meal.  It looks complicated but it really isn't.  Plus it tastes fantastic.  A must try. Our steaks were quite small but you could certainly do this with a larger one - in fact I plan to next time.  Now I feel brave enough to attempt a lattice topped pie! Fun :) I will post it here when I do.

How would you spin this?  Do you have any tips for lattice work?