Serves 4

Poaching smaller joints of meat makes a great alternative to a Sunday roast in the summer. Serve this with new potatoes or couscous steamed in some of the leftover stock. You can also blend the vegetables and remaining stock from the poaching liquor to make a delicious soup.

1 litre chicken or beef stock
1 onion, sliced
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs rosemary
600g fillet of beef
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

2 heads red chicory, trimmed
2 heads white chicory, trimmed
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
Small bunch of mint, leaves chopped
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
50g toasted pecan nuts, roughly chopped

1 Put the stock on to boil with the onion, fennel, carrot, bay leaves and rosemary. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Trim the beef fillet of any sinew.

2 Season the beef all over with salt and pepper, then lower into the stock. Bring the stock back to a gentle boil then reduce the heat until the liquid is barely simmering. Cover the pan, then cook for 18 minutes for medium rare, 20 minutes for medium.

3 Remove the pan from the heat and leave the meat to stand in the stock for 15 minutes. Lift the beef from the pan, pat dry and slice into 8 pieces. Strain the stock, take 100ml and reduce by half. (Keep the remaining stock for preparing a couscous side-dish if you like.)

4 For the salad, separate the leaves from the chicory and arrange over serving plates. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and some seasoning. Stir in the herbs then drizzle half of the dressing over the chicory.

5 Mix the reduced stock with the remaining dressing. Arrange the beef slices over the chicory and drizzle with the stock and dressing mixture. Scatter with the pecans and season with salt and pepper to serve.

Times Recommends

• How to season a wok
• Chicago Rib Shack hits back at its critics
• Gordon Ramsay: Indian barbecue