Seared Steak and Brie Salad, Camp Version
Rare eye fillet, crisped pancetta, and a soft wheel of brie over greens. A first-night car camp meal.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 56
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Beef eye fillet | 600 g | trimmed, kept whole in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic cloves | 2 | crushed |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt and ground black pepper | to taste | |
| Pancetta | 3 thin slices | cut into strips |
| Mixed salad leaves | 150 g | packed in a rigid container so they don't bruise |
| Pine nuts | 1/4 cup | |
| Balsamic vinegar | 2 tbsp | |
| Marmalade | 1 tbsp | single-serve packets travel well |
| Ripe brie | 1 small wheel | thickly sliced |
Method
- Rub the fillet with crushed garlic and olive oil. Salt and pepper on all sides.
- Get a heavy skillet properly hot over the fire or a grate. Sear the fillet on every side, about 8 to 10 minutes total, and pull it while the center is still rare. Set it on a plate to rest.
- Drop the pancetta strips into the same pan. Cook until they crisp and give up their fat, about 3 minutes. Lift them out.
- Toss the pine nuts into the hot fat for 30 seconds until they color. They burn fast, so stand there.
- Off the heat, stir the balsamic and marmalade into the pan drippings until the marmalade dissolves.
- Slice the rested beef thin. Pile the leaves in the pan or a bowl, lay the beef, pancetta, pine nuts, and brie over the top, and pour the warm dressing across everything.
This one does not compress into a dry bag, so treat it as what it is: a car camp dinner for the night the cooler is still cold. Everything cooks in one skillet in sequence, and each stage feeds the next. The beef leaves fat and browned bits behind, the pancetta crisps in that fat, the pine nuts toast in what is left, and the balsamic and marmalade lift all of it off the pan as dressing. No separate dressing bowl, no second pot.
Rest the beef before you slice it or the juice ends up on the cutting board instead of in the salad. The brie should go on last and unheated, so residual warmth from the beef softens it rather than melting it into grease. Pine nuts go from pale to burnt in under a minute over a fire, which is the one step worth watching.
Packing
Beef, pancetta, and brie ride in the cooler bottom against the ice. Greens go on top in something rigid. Pine nuts, oil, vinegar, and marmalade live in the dry box.
Variations
- Swap the eye fillet for sirloin or flat iron. Both take a hot pan and cost less.
- No cooler space for brie? A hard cheese like gouda works, but you lose the melt.
- Wrap the whole thing in a tortilla the next morning if there are leftovers.
https://www.awesomecuisine.com/recipes/8529/beef-salad-with-soft-brie-and-pancetta