Traffic jam roast beef and blue cheese salad

Serves 4

This was devised one Sunday lunchtime when Gallagher realised that he didn't have enough roast beef to go around. It is a wonderful dish, full of complementing flavours and textures. He likes to use mescluna salad leaves for the salad base, but a mixture of wild roquette, watercress and baby spinach leaves would also work well.

Raspberry-infused olive oil is now available in speciality food shops and delis. However, if you have any problems finding it, use a good-quality olive oil and add a dash of raspberry vinegar.

450g sirloin or fillet of beef (well hung)
2 tablespoons olive oil
450g mixed salad greens
16 cherry tomatoes, halved
50g red onions, thinly sliced
225g blue cheese, crumbled (such as Gorgonzola, Roquefort or Cashel Blue)
75ml raspberry-infused olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220C/450F/Gas 8. Heat an oven-proof frying pan until very hot. Season the beef. Add the olive oil to the pan and add the beef, then brown well on all sides. Remove from the heat, drain off any excess oil and then place the beef in the oven for five minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand in a warm place until the beef has relaxed. This will take at least 30 minutes, but you could leave the beef to stand for up to two hours, provided it's not in too hot a place.

When the beef has rested and you are ready to serve, transfer it to a carving board. Use a very sharp carving knife to cut it into very thin slices.

Arrange the salad leaves in wide-rimmed bowls, then fold the slices of beef into cone shapes and pile them on top of the salad leaves.

Scatter over the cherry tomatoes, red onion slices and blue cheese. Add a good drizzle of the raspberry-infused olive oil, then season to taste and serve.