Beef tenderloin carpaccio with avocado, bean sprout and ginger dressing

Rumour has it that the Carpaccio was invented at Harry's Bar in Venice around 1950, where it was first served to the countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo. The Countess, so the story goes, had been told by her doctor to eat only raw meat. Apparently, Giuseppe Cipriani, who owned Harry’s Bar at the time, named the dish after the Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio, because the colours of the dish reminded him of Carpaccio’s paintings. This version is completely different from the original, but, if you use top quality ingredients, it will be a masterpiece.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Beef tenderloin (500 gr)
Avocado (1)
Olive oil (5 tbsp)
Tomato (2 large)
Red onion (1 medium)
Bean sprout (150 gr)
Coriander (1 tbsp chopped)
Sesame oil (1 tbsp)
Ginger (1 small)
Sunflower oil (1 tbsp)
Mayonnaise (6 tbsp)
Lemon 1 ea
Chives (1 tbsp chopped)
Salt
Rock salt
Pepper

Method

We trim the beef tenderloin and, with a very sharp knife, slice it thinly. We put the slices between two sheets of strong cling film and beat them with a meat hummer or a rolling pin until they are almost transparent. We then arrange the slices on 4 plates and set aside.
We peel the avocado, remove the stone and cut it in small cubes. We prepare a salad by adding the red onion and the cubed tomato, season with salt and pepper, and one spoon of olive oil and then keep cool.
Next we wash the bean sprouts and blanch them in salted water, cooling down and straining before mixing them with the coriander, sesame oil, one spoon of olive oil, salt and pepper and then setting aside.
Using a spoon to peel the ginger, we then blend it with the sunflower oil, toss it with the mayonnaise and check the taste. If it’s too thick, we might add some cream to thin it down and make it smoother.
Making a shape with the avocado salad – maybe a cube, a cylinder or a dome – we top it with the bean sprout salad and then add to the meat on the plate.
As a finishing touch, we season the carpaccio with the olive oil, ginger dressing, chives and rock salt, adding the lemon wedges and serving immediately.

Tips:

Difficulty: easy
Preparation: 90 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes