Chilli-larded beef fillet with salsa mechouia and chickpea fritters

Mechoui is the Tunisian word for getting together to cook and eat a whole lamb, done on the spit or in an underground oven. The same word is used for the salsa sauce served with the lamb during such a celebration. This salsa is equally good with beef. The tradition of larding comes from the time when huge sides of beef or venison were cooked slowly on a spit. A large needle-shaped tool would be used to insert strips of pork fat, or lard, into the meat, to keep the meat moist and juicy and p