"Season the Bowl" Steak Recipe

Medium rare steak. Golden, crunchy DUCK FAT potatoes. Simple salad -- SET!

Hey guys,

How are we all doing? Just letting you know that I'm currently in the thick of my exams at the moment so I apologise for the less frequent updates and slower responses on blogs. As we all know, Life is all about balance and priorities so that's what I'm trying to do at the moment. For now, Exam comes first =)

First of all, I LOVE meat. The more, the merrier. Boy oh boy, do I looove my Steak or what. There's a handful or more of ways I like to prepare my steaks at home but this is definitely one of my favourite. The flavours are fresh and it's extremely simple to do. WIN.

I first got the idea of this recipe when I saw Jamie Oliver prepare his "Season the Board" Steak on Masterchef Season 2 (still my favourite season to date!). It looked absolutely mouth-watering. So I tried it out, liked it and have been using this method a LOT ever since. Jamie did it on a wooden board but I didn't have one big enough and found it more convenient to just use a bowl. Same same, to me. Anyone remember that episode when Jamie showed Jonathan and Callum this in London...?!

Any-hoo, I do hope you give this method a go next time you're serving up steak at home. I served mine with a side of simple salad and some seriously delicious DUCK FAT potatoes. And foahhhhhh where those duck fat potatoes damn good or what!! Friends and I couldn't get enough of 'em NOMMMMM.

Oh, oh! One last thing... Has anyone tried this Hibiscus salad dressing before? Believe me, I was apprehensive about it at first too until I tried it. It's got a slight nectary sweetness that balances out the sharp, acidity of the vinegar and is oh SO good.

Not sure where my sister got it from but it tastes fantastic and handy to have in the fridge. Now, I use it on almost all of my salads cause most days I'm too lazy to make my own dressing heeee...

Hope you enjoy this recipe and take care! =)

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"Season the Bowl" Steak Recipe

Ingredients:

1 handful of fresh thyme (chopped) *

3 bird's eye chillies (sliced)

5 cloves garlic (pressed) **

1/2 lemon

3 tbsp olive oil

4 - 6 slabs of cooked steak

* I find the flavours of thyme work really well with this. Plus, the leaves are small enough to be cooked/wilted by the heat from the steak. Alternatively, use fresh herb of choice

** Highly recommend using a garlic presser as it squeezes out the juices and makes it really fine (so it's not too raw). Alternatively, mince really finely and press with flat part of knife

Method:

1. Place thyme, chilli, garlic in a bowl. Squeeze in the juice from lemon and add the olive oil. Stir briefly with a fork and set aside.

2. Once steaks are cooked (see "how to" below), place them in the bowl. Pour in juices from the pan and leave it to rest for 5 - 8 minutes. Mix the steaks around in the sauce evenly. Serve and drizzle some sauce on the steaks.

Cooking Tips: How to Cook a Medium Rare Steak

Ingredients:

4 slabs of steak (approx 1" thick)

4 knobs of butter

Olive oil

Cracked salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat a grill pan under low to medium heat for 10 minutes (or slightly less)*. Meanwhile, drizzle a bit of olive oil before cracking lots and LOTS of salt and pepper on both sides of the steak.

* I'm very careful not to use high heat on my non-stick pans so normally just leave it on the stove for 10 minutes or slightly less to get it really hot.

2. Once pan is VERY hot, place two steaks diagonally on the pan (e.g. pointing to top left corner of the pan) for 1.5 minutes. Immediately turn steaks 90 degrees (i.e. pointing top right corner) for 1 minute. This will create criss-cross marks on the steak.

3. Flip steak over and place diagonally (as before). Place a knob of butter on each steak and cook for 1 minute. Turn 90 degrees and cook for another 1 minute.

4. If layer of fats is present, tilt steaks vertically (fats side down) to cook or render for another 45 seconds. Take off heat and allow to rest on wire rack. Otherwise, place in metal bowl for the "Season the Bowl" recipe above.

COOKS NOTE:

- For a standard stove, my 1 inch steaks normally take about 2 - 2.5 minutes per side for a medium rare result

- You can use a standard non-stick pan too, but just stick to the suggested cooking time

- Adding the butter gives more sheen, flavour and jus to the steak.

For more Cooking Tips, click: here

Made these for my mates during last semester's exam... My kinda "brain food" lol!