Rib Eye steak with pesto hollandaise and skinny oven chips

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 50 minutes 

Cooking Time: 50 minutes 

This recipe is maximum-pleasure, minimum-fuss, bistro-style take on steak and chips. It’s perfect for a night in when you want to cook and serve a Saturday-night meal to remember – or impress a date or Valentine.

INGREDIENTS

2 large Maris Piper potatoes, sliced into thin fries
2 tbsp Munns Duck Fat (buy it in a jar or use leftovers from roasting a duck)
2 tbsp fine Polenta
850g Rib Eye Steak at room temperature
Rapeseed oil for frying

INGREDIENTS- Pesto hollandaise

1 garlic clove, chopped
Small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small bunch fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 tsp sea salt flakes
Zest and juice 1 lemon
40g Parmesan, grated
50ml olive oil
2 medium free-range egg yolks
1 tsp white wine vinegar
110g unsalted butter, cubed

STEP 1

Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 6. Put the fries in cold water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Put the duck fat in a large roasting tin and heat in the oven for 5 minutes until very hot but not smoking.

STEP 2

Add the chips to the hot fat, toss to coat, then sprinkle over the polenta, season with salt and toss again. Roast for 50 minutes, turning now and then, or until golden and crisp.

STEP 3 

Meanwhile, make the pesto hollandaise (see tip). In the small bowl of a food processor (or in a pestle and mortar), whizz/pound the garlic, herbs, salt, lemon zest and juice and parmesan, then drizzle in the olive oil and whizz/pound again.

STEP 4

Put the egg yolks and vinegar in a small glass/ceramic bowl and set over a pan of simmering water over a low heat (don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water). Using a wooden spoon, beat the egg yolks for a minute, then start adding the butter a cube at a time, beating all the time with the wooden spoon until the mixture has emulsified into a smooth sauce. Turn off the heat but leave the bowl over the pan. Just before serving, stir in the pesto.

STEP 5

Once the chips have had 
20 minutes in the oven, heat an ovenproof griddle pan (or frying pan), rub the steak on each side with a little rapeseed oil and season with salt. When the pan is smoking hot, cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until deep brown all over. Put the pan in the oven below the chips and roast for 15-20 minutes until the thermometer reads 55°C (for medium-rare). Take out of the oven and rest on a warm plate, turning once, for 5-10 minutes. Serve on a platter with the chips and a bowl of the pesto hollandaise. Slice the steak and enjoy.