Recipe by Vinny Clist – head chef at Coppa Spuntino

From a little seafood restaurant in Cambridge, England, to three seasons cooking in the French Alps, Vinny’s life in the kitchen has seen plenty of variety. The award-winning chef has served modern British meals from an airstream trailer, and taught others to cook in Surrey, England. Specialising in Italian cuisine, the British expat is now behind the pans at Brisbane’s modern Italian restaurant, Coppa Spuntino.

I used to run a cooking school in Surrey, England and we used to get this local venison in and I’d do a venison carpaccio. I really heavily spiced it and it’s from there that I’ve really made this, with loads of cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander and mustard seeds, lots of black pepper and lots of salt.

Serves 10

Prep time:  40 mins
Cook time:  5 mins

Ingredients

Dry rub Ingredients:

  • Tbsp cumin
  • Tbsp coriander
  • Tbsp mustard seeds
  • Tbsp fennel seeds
  • Tbsp salt
  • Tbsp pepper

Carpaccio Ingredients:

  • 1kg eye fillet
  • Soft goat’s cheese, whipped
  • Watermelon radish, thinly sliced
  • Orange, segmented
  • Lemon balm
  • Black salt

Candied walnuts Ingredients:

  • 300g walnuts
  • 100g water
  • 100g sugar

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180C. In a saucepan bring the water and sugar to boil, and throw in the walnuts. Coat the walnuts in the sugar mixture before taking off the heat. Arrange the walnuts on a baking tray and place in the oven for 10 minutes. The walnuts can be prepared up to three days ahead.

Step 2

Toss all the spices, salt and pepper into a mortar and pestle. Grind them into a fine dust. Roll the eye fillet in the spice mix, before searing it in a hot pan. At home it may be best to use a barbecue to get a higher heat.

Step 3

Once cooled slightly, the beef can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated until needed. Cooling makes it easier to slice, and a meat slicer (like one you would find in a deli) is the best way to slice this. If you don’t have a meat slicer, use a knife to finely slice discs of meat.

Step 4

Use the back of a knife to gently push and spread out the edges of the meat. Arrange the slices overlapping slightly on a plate.

Step 5

Drop 3-4 tsp of whipped goat’s cheese, 3 orange segments, 4 slices of radish and 6-8 walnuts around the plate. Garnish with lemon balm and black salt.

Tip: Elements of this dish can prepared well ahead of time. The eye fillet will last in the fridge for 3 days. Popping the watermelon radish in iced water for 2-3 minutes before slicing will give it crunch.