Category: steak

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Steak and Black Pudding

The other week I was lucky enough to have dinner at the Mustard Seed Restaurant in Inverness. For my starter I had had the crayfish and salmon salad. For my main course I had the pan fried rump steak served with roasted fine diced black pudding and potatoes with parsley and garlic crème fraîche.

This was really really nice.

The steak was a rump steak, and I have found at many restaurants that rump steak can be quite tough, this one though was cooked to perfection and was very tender. I did ask for it to be cooked medium rare and I think that helped. The black pudding and potatoes were done well and really enhanced the steak. It was all complemented with the parsley and garlic crème fraîche, which had a subtle garlic flavour and the freshness worked well in opposition to the strong spiced flavour of the black pudding. Across those flavours you could still certainly taste the flavour of the beef.

Overall a really nice combination of ingredients, that was cooked well and was as a result delicious.

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Pink Peppercorn Crusted Beef Steaks

Sometimes time is against you with cooking, especially after a long day in the office, so ranges like Waitrose’s Easy To Cook can be a quick and useful way of making something nice to eat.

I picked Waitrose’s Pink Peppercorn Crusted Beef Steaks from their branch at Gordano Services and they did look quite nice, not just in the packet, but also on the side of the packet.

However cooking them, according to the instructions did not go to plan…

The steak itself cooked fine, but the crust stuck to the pan and separated from the steak. Think it was a combination of the preparation of the steak and my pan.

Anyhow scraping the crust from the pan onto the steaks worked okay, but they didn’t look anything like what it looked like on the packet.

I served it with potato rosti, steamed vegetables and a homemade sauce using the pan I cooked the steak in, some white wine, creme frache and a little parmesan.

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Frying the perfect steak

Useful advice and tips from Jamie Oliver.

Key for me is a decent griddle pan and I wouldn’t use salt. The other thing is buying decent steak too, cheap and cheerful cuts generally will disappoint.

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But you said….

So there I was at Cribbs Causeway doing some late night shopping when I decided I wanted a bite to eat. So a quick decision was made to go to Café Rouge…

But you said….

Yes I know I said before that I wouldn’t go again to Café Rouge….

So….

However I had a Tesco Clubcard voucher on me, and that is one of the few places at Cribbs that takes them… so despite my reservations about Café Rouge based on previous visits, I decided to eat there.

The fixed price evening menu wasn’t an option as you can’t use the Tesco vouchers with it. So I looked at the full price menu and decided to go with the Bavette steak.

Traditional French cut of steak marinated in rosemary & garlic, best enjoyed rare, with French fries and melted garlic beurre maison.

I hadn’t tried a steak before at Café Rouge so was slightly apprehensive. I did though as the menu recommended ordered the steak rare. The Bavette is a flank steak so if cooked medium or well done it will be a tougher than say a sirloin.

When it arrived it did look very nice.

So as I cut into the steak I was still wondering if I had made a mistake. However in the end I was quite pleased. It was a little more done than I would have liked, which meant it was slightly tougher than I think it should have been. The fries were crisp, but over-seasoned. I did find them not entirely disagreeable, and there was a nice portion. I wasn’t too impressed with the butter so didn’t pour it over my steak. The main reason for ordering a steak is the steak and I was pleased with the dish. As with any dish ordered from a chain such as Café Rouge you are relying very likely on system cooking rather than home or chef cooked food. However in this case the dish exceeded my expectations and I did finish the plate clean.

Unlike previous visits to that Café Rouge the service was much much better, fast, efficient and friendly. The place was quite busy, so I was pleased with the unexpected much better level of service.

So despite my reservations I in the end had a good meal, good service and may go again.

Really?

Well I did say may…

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Surf & Turf

A few months ago I visited the Surf & Turf restaurant in St Ives.

I was looking for a nice meal and having had a look round decided on the Surf & Turf. I went with the signature dish as I do quite like surf and turf.

After a very nice complimentary portion of soup…

…it was onto the main course.

It consisted of half a lobster, a rib eye steak and some giant prawns. Served with salad and new potatoes.

It was all very fresh and did taste good. The steak was cooked to my liking. I did have a hunch that the shellfish wasn’t cooked from raw, which was a pity, but overall a nice dish and reasonably priced at £25.

The surroundings were very pleasant and the staff and service were excellent.

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Steak with Peppercorn and Mushroom Sauce

A simple but delicious recipe for steak. In this case I used rump steak, but generally I now prefer ribeye.

I seasoned the steak with crushed peppercorns.

I took a heavy based frying pan and placed it on the heat. I put in a splash of olive oil and once this was hot placed the steak in the pan.

Cook the steak to your liking, I cooked mine to medium.

Once the steak is cooked, remove to a warm plate and let it rest.

Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and cook on a high heat. After cooking the mushrooms, remove and then remove the pan from the heat and then add some creme frache or cream.

I sliced (carved) my steak and then added the sauce and mushrooms.

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Char-Grilled Feather Steak Florentine

The other week I was at the Solent Hotel & Spa in Fareham. From the outside it was a modern looking hotel just off the motorway. Inside it was well decorated and though they had gone for an “older” look, it did appear to work, and didn’t look tacky as sometimes it does when hotels do this.

The staff in the hotel were professional and friendly and their primary goal appeared to be making sure that my stay was perfect.

Rather than go to the restaurant I went to the bar instead to eat. From the menu, I chose the Char-Grilled Feather Steak Florentine. It is called ‘feather’ due to the unique markings of the meat, it is also known as the ‘butchers or onglet steak’. The steak was served with a spicy tomato sauce and fries.

I wasn’t expecting the dish to look like this though when it arrived!

The steak arrived pre-sliced on a wooden board rather than a plate. The steak was excellent and well flavoured. I also enjoyed the dressing and salad leaves. The spicy tomato sauce was okay, but I didn’t like it that much, nothing wrong with it, more it wasn’t to my taste. The fries were crisp and had flavour.

Overall a delicious steak and a delightful eating experience.

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Sirloin for Beef Wellington?




One of the things I do like looking at for this blog is the stats and particularly the referrals, most of which come from Google searches.

This one caught my eye recently:

can sirloin beef be used for beef wellington

This blog comes up quite high in the search rankings (number five at the time of writing) and a recipe I posted back in August 2008 does use sirloin steak for beef wellington.

Here is the recipe.

This is my version of the classic Beef Wellington.

Beef Wellington

I used sirloin steak, which I cooked in a pan until it was cooked medium rare. You can of course cook the steak how you prefer it. Ensure it is cooked to a point before you would call it perfect, as it will cook more in the oven.

I then cut the steak into portions, about two inches square.

The steak was then spread with a mixture of chopped mushrooms and mustard. I used French whole grain mustard.

Using some puff pastry (and I will admit I do buy ready made puff pastry as I have no idea on how to make it).

I cut out some circles, about four inches in diameter. Placed one circle on the baking tray, added the steak. Using beaten egg and a pastry brush I brushed egg around the edges of the circle and placed a second circle of puff pastry on top. This top puff pastry circle was then brushed with beaten egg.

The parcels were then baked in an oven for about ten to fifteen minutes until golden brown.

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Pasta with steak and mushrooms

Though I eat pasta a fair bit, I do like to try different things, though more often then not it is a variation on a theme as is the case with this dish.

I cooked the steak in a hot pan, generally in the same way I cook any steak. Hot pan, no oil in the pan, but oil the steak with a good olive oil and season with black pepper (but no salt, as the pancetta used later has more than enough salt to season the dish).

I cook the steak and leave to rest.

While the steak is cooking, cook the pasta of your choice, I used a specialty air dried pasta from the Taste the Difference range from Sainsburys.

After removing the steak from the pan, add some diced onion and pancetta. When the onion has softened and the pancetta cooked, add some button mushrooms. When the mushrooms have cooked add some freshly chopped parsley, a few spoonfuls of creme frache and the steak which should be sliced.

Place the pasta on the plate and spoon the steak and sauce onto the top of the pasta.

Serve.