José Pizarro's Fillet steak on toast with onions and melted cheese

"Cheeseburgers are fast food all over the world, but they don’t have a soul: they are the opposite of everything that Spanish cooking is about. But while not classically Spanish, the beef and cheese is undoubtedly a great combination. So, I decided to take the basic ingredients and make a dish to savour. I used the most tender, char-grilled beef, the most sublime cheese (it is, honestly) and meltingly sweet, caramelised onions. The secret is extra virgin olive oil and slow, slow cooking – for an hour or so. Sadly, Torta de Barros cheese is difficult to track down, so I recommend Camembert with the rind taken off as a substitute."

Ingredients

Caramelised onions Steak sandwiches

Details

  • Cuisine: Spanish
  • Recipe Type: Main
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Preparation Time: 5 mins
  • Cooking Time: 60 mins
  • Serves: 4

Step-by-step

  1. First, caramelise the onions: heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over a low heat, then add the onions, sugar and bay leaf. Give everything a good stir, cover with a lid and slowly cook the onions until they are a deep nut-brown colour; stir occasionally. This process will take longer than you think - about an hour. Meanwhile, bring the steaks to room temperature (this will take 20-30 minutes), and de-rind the cheese and divide it into four chunky slices
  2. Towards the end of the onions' cooking time, heat a non-stick frying pan or griddle over a high heat. Add the oil and, when it's shimmering, put a steak into the pan. You need to fry the steaks one at a time: if you add all four at once they'll steam rather than fry. For rare steaks about 2.5cm thick, cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, and rest for 5 minutes
  3. Season each steak, place a cheese slice on top of it, and leave somewhere warm so that the cheese begins to melt. Meanwhile, toast the bread.
  4. Spoon the caramelised onion onto the toast, place the cheese smothered steaks on top, and finish with a sprinkle of oregano leaves and serve

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