Monday, 20 June 2011

Steak and chips

We hadn't had meat for ages, so when I went to the butcher last week, I ordered two of my favourite cuts of beef: cheeks (hence the previous recipe) and onglet steak (otherwise known as hanger steak, a fairly cheap cut, with lots of flavour). When I went to pick it up, I was given skirt steak instead (they insisted it was the same as onglet, but its not!). In any case, both can be cooked the same way and are similar in flavour and texture. Another similar cut is flank steak (bavette). So any of these would be fine: they all offer a cheaper alternative to the mainstream steaks, have tons of flavour and can be fairly tender if cooked medium to medium-rare.

I decided I would keep the steak for Sunday and treat my husband to a nice 'Father's Day' meal, along with home made chips (he perfected a recipe while we were still students) and some home-made coleslaw. In fact, aside for some prep for the potatoes, it is a pretty quick meal and it does taste absolutely great!

Serves 2

500 g of meat (onglet, bavette or skirt steak)
500 g potatoes, chopped into 1cm thick strips
half a cabbage (red or white, but not savoy)
3-4 medium carrots
salad cream
mayonnaise
salt
pepper
olive oil

Put the strips of potato in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside to dry off. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In the meantime, chop the cabbage and the carrots in thin slices and mix with a ratio of 4 quantities of salad cream to 1 quantity of mayo (for a lower fat content you can replace the mayo for Greek yoghurt). The amount will depend on how wet or dry you like your coleslaw - I like mine fairly dry. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into an oven tray (should be enough to just about cover the tray in a thin layer) and put the tray in the oven to heat the oil for 5 minutes. Once heated, add the potato slices, salt and pepper and return in the oven for 20 minutes - turning over half way through cooking. Preheat a frying pan till very hot. Cover the steak with olive oil and salt and pepper, then add to the hot pan. Sear on each side for 3 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes on each side for a medium (fairly bloody) steak. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes, while you plate up the rest of the ingredients, then carve and serve the steak.




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