Name: Stilton and Red-onion Salad with Peppered Beef Fillet1
Yield: Serves 4 as a starter
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Salt and pepper; 1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns; Oil or butter; 100 g (4 oz) Stilton cheese, broken (more can be added for blue-cheese lovers, or Roquefort can be substituted); 225–350 g (8–12 oz) mixed green leaves; 10 very thin slices of French bread, halved; Squeeze of lemon juice; 4 tablespoons walnut oil; 3 tablespoons port; 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 4 tablespoons groundnut oil; 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (preferably Cabernet Sauvignon); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard; 3 red onions; 350–450 g (12 oz-1 lb) beef fillet; 2 tablespoons groundnut oil

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a starter

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New British Classics

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1999

About

Basically, nothing could be more British than this combination of the very English Stilton cheese and beef. It harks back to the great compound salads of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The dish is very lively, full of amazing flavours – one of those dishes you just can’t get enough of.

The ‘pickled’ red onions are delicious in themselves and can be served as part of any salad or to accompany a ‘ploughman’s lunch’.

It’s a great dish for a dinner party. It suits bes