Get your romance on and hit the kitchen for a datenight-esque dinner tonight. It’s simple, easy and will almost taste like a restaurant meal, but from your dinner table. You should be able to make this meal for around a tenner, too. Awesome.
Steak has a reputation for being a difficult meal to get right at home. It’s a dish that many of us only order when we’re out. A decent steak dinner won’t allow you to come away with much change from 30 yoyos a head – never mind accounting for sides and vino. Cooking steak requires a level of instinct to get spot on. But if you follow my step-by-step guide you should get it pretty close to goddamn perfect.
I like to serve steak with a ‘finishing butter’. A finishing butter is a butter that combines fresh herbs and seasoning. They’re for melting over meat and fish and add delicious flavour. Below, I have given you a recipe for two finishing butters.
The good news? You should be able to make the meal below for €10 a head. It’s not going to be an every night event, but for a special occasion it’s gorgeous. (Download TippleDoc and search where you can get a decent bottle of red to go with it).
More good news? While I’m not going to tell you that this is a super-clean meal, I would not consider it unhealthy. In Ireland our beef is grass-fed (one pro of all that rain). Grass-fed beef (opposed to grain fed) is richer in nutrients such as beta carotene, iron and zinc, as well as B vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids. Ditto our Irish butter. I am all about real butter. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of butter, visit the ‘why butter’ page of Improper Butter’s website. Serving this dish with sweet potato, makes it low GI, which means it’ll keep you satiated for longer than regular potato (no midnight munchies).
It’s quite important, if you can, to take the steaks out of the fridge two hours before cooking. If they’re not at room temperature you’ll need to allow for longer cooking times. Lastly, note that you don’t oil the steaks before cooking them. You’ll get a better crust this way.
Ingredients
Serves 2
The Finishing Butter
Serve steak with a ‘finishing butter’. A finishing butter is a butter that combines fresh herbs and seasoning. They’re for melting over meat and fish and add delicious flavour. To make this dinner even easier, you can just pick up some Improper Butter and leave out these two options for butter sauce.
The butter recipes
Cashel Blue & Thyme Butter
75g butter, at room temperature
20g cashel blue
5g of dried thyme (or better, fresh if you have it)
Add the butter to a small bowl. Crumble in the cheese and add the thyme. Mix together with a fork. Cover with clingfilm and keep in the fridge till use.
Pink peppercorn and Chive Sauce
85g butter, at room temperature
10g fresh chives, finely chopped
5g pink peppercorns (a pinch)
Add the butter and chives to a small bowl. Slightly bash the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar (or with the back of a rolling pin in a plastic sandwich bag). Mix all together with a fork. Cover with clingfilm and keep in the fridge till use.
The crispy sweet potato fries
2 sweet potatoes (or ½ kg), peeled and cut into chunky chips
1 tbsp rapeseed oil (I always use Newgrange Gold)
1 tbsp polenta
Sea salt
Heat your oven to 200C (180 fan). Place the cut sweet potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with the oil, polenta and a pinch of salt. Toss to evenly coat, then spread out on a baking tray and cook for 30 mins till golden and crunchy (you may shake the tray once during cooking).
The steak
2 ribeye steaks, or fillet if you prefer
Sea salt
25g butter
1 whole garlic clove, squashed with the side of a knife
Directions
Take the steaks out of the fridge two hours before cooking them. Don’t oil the steaks before cooking them. You’ll get a better crust this way.
1. Pat the steaks dry with kitchen paper. Season them on both sides with a generous pinch of sea salt.
2. Heat a heavy based frying pan over a high heat till it’s just starting to smoke.
3. Put the steak down on the pan and turn the heat to medium. Press it down with a spatula and cook for 90 seconds.
4. Turn over and cook for another 90 seconds, pressing down again.
5. Add the butter and garlic clove to the pan. Use them to baste the steak, turning every minute till it’s cooked -4 mins for rare, 6 mins for medium-rare and 10 mins for well done (if you’re cooking fillet steaks add 2 mins extra to cooking times).
6. Remove from the pan and rest for 5 mins.
7. To serve everything: Plate the steaks, top with a scoop of your finishing butter or Improper Butter of choice, and serve with the sweet potato fries and a rocket salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar on the side.
Elaine Lavery is a former French Alps chalet chef, and now the co-founder of Irish company Improper Food. The company’s first product, Improper Butter is a yummy range of natural garlic and herb cooking butters.
This week Elaine is our foodie Guest Blogger, highlighting some amazing Irish small food producers, she adds, “As a small food producer, I am a big advocate of buying locally. We have amazing quality produce to choose from and buying local has become really on-trend.”
