Osterich strich steak tagliata in an Instant Pot

I love the Instant Pot and was thrilled when they launched the new Instant Pot® Duo Plus with a Sous Vide function. I have wanted to be able to Sous Vide for so long and an affordable domestic appliance has not been available in South Africa up until now. The first thing I wanted to try in it was a steak, and specifically, an ostrich steak as it’s lean and healthy and I thought would work well in a tagliata recipe. Say hello to my new favourite healthy low carb meal.

What is Sous Vide cooking?

In case you are unsure Sous Vide is a method of cooking whereby food is sealed in a bag (preferably vacuum sealed) and immersed in water that is controlled to your desired temperature. The food essentially cooks really slowly for a longer time and results in tenderizing proteins, cooking evenly, and locking in flavour. How long you cook and what you cook all depends on your taste preference and I have a lot of experimenting to do.

I’m dreaming about the creamy unctuousness of a 60-degree egg that I plan to put on everything from toast to a salad and a fillet of salmon cooked Sous Vide until it yields under the melting texture. Perhaps I’ll even put the egg on the salmon and have it for breakfast. I’ve read that chicken breasts are very juicy and cooked this way too.

Steak cooked sous vide takes the meat to an even pink throughout and you can cook it for as long as you like your meat done. All you need to then do it chase it briefly over the flames or on a griddle pan to finish it off. Meat needs that mallard reaction to create some flavour around the outside. You can cook sous vide your steak in advance and then bring it to room temperature before doing the finishing off.

What is the difference between the older Instant Pot and the Instant Pot® Duo Plus?

The older Instant Pot is a remarkable machine and I’m planning on keeping it. There has been more than one occasion where I wished I had 2 pressure cookers. One to do the rice and one to do the meat.

What do you cook your food in when you Sous Vide?

Sealing foods for cooking Sous Vide prevents moisture evaporation and allows for the most efficient transfer of energy from the water to the food. To do so, simply place your seasoned food in a plastic bag and remove the air using the water immersion technique, a straw, or a vacuum sealer. You can use a Ziploc bag or these amazing endlessly reusable BPA-free Stasher bags as I did. Available on Yuppiechef. They are expensive but honestly, I feel like I want to store everything in them now and they are so sturdy and easy to wash

A guide to cooking steak Sous Vide (source Platings and Pairings)

 Sous Vide Steak Temperature guide:

• Rare: 49°C – 53°C (120°F to 128°F)
• Medium-Rare: 54°C to 57°C (129°F to 134°F)
• Medium: 57°C to 62°C (135°F to 144°F)
• Medium-Well: 63°C – 68°C (145°F to 155°F)
• Well Done:  69°C (156°F ) and up

Note that if you are cooking at below 54°C / 130°F you should sous vide for no longer than 2 1/2 hours for food safety reasons. 

How Long Does It Take to Sous Vide a Steak?

The length of time it takes to Sous Vide a steak depends on its thickness. Most thick steaks like a ribeye will be around 3.5 – 4cm (1 1/2 inches) thick. Below is a timing chart on the minimum time needed for your ribeye to reach temperature in the sous vide:

• Sous vide 2.5cm (1-inch thick) (or less) steaks for 40 minutes
• Sous vide 4cm (1.5-inch thick) (and thicker) steaks for 1 hour

 I love tagliata which is a very simple salad on which you place your thinly sliced grilled meat, preferably rare to medium and deliciously pink. Rocket is traditional and shavings of Parmesan cheese make it extra tasty. I’ve added fennel because I’m obsessed with it and once it’s been lounging around in iced water it crisps up adding amazing texture. I also wanted to bulk up the green component of my salad. A sharp and vibrant vinaigrette wakes this all up along with a few generous spritzes of lemon juice. Enjoy!

*Cooks notes -You can replace the ostrich steak with any steak of your choice. I cooked this ostrich fillet that weighed approximately 300gms for 50 minutes at 55 degrees Celsius. It was juicy and tender. The Instant Pot works in increments of 30 minutes so just set it to an hour and set your timer. The thicker the steak the more well done you want it the longer you will need to go (see above guide). The Sous-Vide function does not work with pressure, so you can open and close the lid to add more water if you are cooking for many hours. I used a combination of rocket and wild rocket. I find wild rocket too bitter and stringy to use on its own in a salad. The salad dressing is enough for just one salad but I suggest you double it up and have extra for other salads.

If you don’t have a sous vide, simply grill your steak how you like it, slice it up and pop it on this salad.

A few of my other Instant Pot recipes:

Lamb shanks with red wine, rosemary and bay leaves

Vietnamese caramel salmon in the Instant Pot

Instant Pot gammon with ginger beer & rooibos

Confit duck legs with cherry sauce

Chicken & dumplings in the Instant Pot

Ostrich steak tagliata in an instant pot (sous vide)

Ostrich steak tagliata and how to cook a steak Sous Vide in the Instant Pot.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:1 hour hr

Ingredients

• 300 gms – 400gms Ostrich fillet steak or however much you like
• 2 small sprigs of rosemary
• 3 handfuls of rocket – I used half rocket and half wild rocket
• 1 fennel bulb shaved thinly on a mandolin (white only)
• 1 a sprig or two of fennel leaves
• A few sprigs parsley optional
• 50 gms Parmesan shaved using a vegetable peeler (or however much you want)

Dressing:

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp good red wine or sherry vinegar
• ¼ minced garlic
• A pinch of sea salt flakes and ground black pepper

Instructions

• Fill the inner pot of the Instant Pot to the 2/3 full and place the steam rack on the bottom.
• Select the Sous Vide function. Use the +/- keys to adjust the temperature in increments of 1 C and 1F. I set it to 55C (130F) for a medium steak.
• Press Sous Vide again to toggle to the cooking time and setting and using the +/- key set the time. After 10 seconds it will beep and display the ‘ON’ on the LCD to indicate it has started heating. It will take a while to heat up (approx 10 minutes)
• Season the ostrich steak with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a little olive oil and pop a couple of sprigs of rosemary into your sous vide bag. Seal by removing as much air as possible.
• When the Instant Pot is ready it will beep. Remove the lid and place the sealed pouch or pouches into the water. The contents should be submerged but the seal above water.
• Place the lid on the cooker and set a different timer if your cooking falls outside of the 30-minute increments. For this steak recipe and because my steak was around 4cm thick, I set it to 50 minutes.
• Make the salad dressing in a small jar, shake and set aside.
• When it is finished remove your pouch and set aside.
• Brush the ostrich steak with some more olive oil and grill quickly on the braai / BBQ or on a griddle pan. Around 1 minute – 1.5 minutes per side. Set aside on a board to rest for 5 minutes and give it a generous spritz of lemon juice. This can be served at room temperature so can be made in advance.
• Just before you are ready to serve, spread the rocket out over your serving platter, top with the shaved fennel and sliced & seasoned baby tomatoes. Place the sliced meat on the salad and the shave over the Parmesan.

Notes

The steak from any leftover tagliata can be stored in the fridge. The rocket will not keep well as it will have wilted when the dressing is added.

Author: Sam Linsell

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