Tagliata, Bone Marrow Focaccia
Tagliata simply translates as 'cut' or 'sliced' in Italian but it always refers to a dish of sliced steak, and it usually sits atop a simple bed of rocket and parmesan salad. This is a slight variation on that, as I added roast broccoli and was quite heavy handed with lemon and rosemary for seasoning.
I served it with some nice fresh focaccia that I'd been sent by Dell'Ugo and you can buy in the chilled section at Waitrose. I beefed it up (pun fully intended) with some roasted bone marrow spread over the top and dressed with capers and parsley, so it was kind of like a very fancy indulgent bruschetta. I can't claim complete ownership of this as I got the inspiration from this month's Olive magazine where the phenomenally talented Dan Doherty of Duck and Waffle suggests a bone marrow crostini to accompany roast beef. I saw bone marrow going for £1 a go at Waitrose and the rest is history. You can't beat that intense beefy flavour and it really is incredibly simple.
You will need:
(Serves two)
300-400g rib eye steak (or fillet if you prefer but rib eye is my fave)
Lemon
Butter
80g broccoli
1 clove garlic
Mixed salad leaves or rocket
Few sprigs rosemary
Handful fresh parsley
2 tbsp capers
Grated parmesan
Black olives
Start by roasting the bone marrow at 200C for 30 mins. Just lay them marrow side up on a dish and in they go. Pop the broccoli in halfway through. As the broccoli goes in, cook your steak by heating a large frying pan as high as you possibly can. Open all your windows, doors and put the extractor on as things are going to get smokey. Melt butter and olive oil in a pan and season the pan well with good salt and black pepper. When the pan is really hot, place your steak in and cook for about 2 minutes each side for rare, basting it throughout. Bash the garlic clove to releave the oils but do not remove the skin as otherwise it will burn in the pan and taste horrible. Add the rosemary and garlic whole to the pan for the last 30 seconds or so of cooking the steak. Pop a chilli in if you like too. Turn the heat off and cover with foil to rest for 10 minutes in a warm place (like recently turned off oven).
Make the bone marrow focaccia by spreading the melted marrow across the bread and then sprinkling with the capers and parsley. Give it a squeeze of lemon.
Once the steak is well rested, slice thinly.
Now assemble the tagliata platter by layering salad leaves, olives, roast broccoli, steak and parmesan then dressing liberally with lemon, olive oil and some of the roasted rosemary from the steak pan. That's all there is to it. I also served another bone marrow simply roasted and topped with capers and parsley for extra spreading joy.