Serves 4

Since you will be slicing the beef at the end of this recipe it is not essential to set the shape of the fillet first. It does, however, help you achieve more uniform steaks and therefore, equal cooking times. You will find daikon and wasabi in most Asian grocery stores and in some large supermarkets. Timings here are for rare.

1 whole, thick fillet of beef, about 600g
¼ small daikon or Japanese mooli, finely grated
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
30g lightly salted butter, cut into small cubes

For the pickled cucumber

Juice of 4 limes
200g sugar
2 vanilla pods, split
1 large cucumber

For the horseradish sauce

2 tsp finely grated fresh root ginger
100ml dark soy sauce
½ tsp wasabi paste

1 Trim any silvery membrane and sinew from the beef fillet. Wrap the beef tightly in a triple layer of clingfilm, rolling it a few times and twisting the ends tightly to seal. Chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, to set the shape.

2 Put the lime juice and sugar in a small pan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pods and stir them into the lime juice and sugar. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar in the lime juice. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.

3 Five to ten minutes before you start to fry the beef, peel the cucumber and quarter it lengthways. Scrape out the core, then chop the cucumber flesh into 1cm cubes and put them in a mixing bowl. Pour over the lime and vanilla mixture, mix well and leave to marinate briefly.

4 After you have made the pickled cucumber, make the horseradish dipping sauce. Simply mix the grated ginger and soy sauce together, then whisk in the wasabi paste. Divide the pickled cucumber, grated daikon and horseradish sauce in separate dipping bowls and arrange them on individual serving plates.

5 When you are ready to cook, slice the beef into four even steaks and season well. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan over moderate heat. When you feel a good heat rising, sear the steaks on one side for 2-2½ minutes.

6 Flip the steaks over, add the butter to the pan and cook for another 2-2½ minutes. Once the butter has melted and starts to foam, spoon it over the steaks as it cooks. Sear the edges of the steaks quickly, then transfer to a warm plate. Leave to rest for 5 minutes. Carve the meat into thin slices, then arrange them on the serving plates, overlapping slightly. Best eaten with chopsticks!

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