I get my beef from Allen’s of Mayfair, the oldest butcher’s shop in London. The cattle are raised exclusively for Allens in the Scottish Highlands, grazing on the area’s rich pastures. Their diet is topped up with draff, a by-product of the whiskey industry that’s a great source of fibre and protein. The beef is hung for atleast 21 days, to tenderise it and deepen the flavour. It’s worth a visit to Allen’s shop in Mount Street, to see the range on offer and the interesting Victorian interior. If you want to improve your butchery skills, they run courses.
Ingredients
2 x rib-eye steaks
salt and cracked black pepper
30g butter
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Potato dauphinoise
400 g maris piper potatoes, peeled & thinly sliced with a sharp knife or mandoline (the potatoes should be no thicker than a £1 coin).
1 garlic clove, peeled & finely crushed
300 ml double cream
100 ml whole milk
Pinch of grated nutmeg
Salt & pepper
50 g ricotta (optional)
Watercress Pesto
50 g watercress (you can use the stalks)
30 g basil leaves
40 g pine kernels
Juice of half a lemon
50 g finely grated parmesan
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
Method
Ribeye Steaks
Take these out of the fridge & unpack them before you start preparing the other ingredients, so they have time to come to room temperature.
Pesto
Blitz the watercress, basil, 3/4 of the pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and a little salt into a fine-textured paste in a food processor.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in the parmesan and remaining whole pine nuts.
Potato Dauphinoise
Preheat the oven to 180C fan, 200C. Grease the inside of a gratin dish using butter.
Mix the milk, cream, garlic, nutmeg & seasoning in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then turn off the heat.
Gradually add the potatoes into your creamy mix in the pan, stirring to ensure they don’t stick together.
Bring the mixture back to the boil, then simmer on a low heat for around 10 minutes. The starch from the potatoes will thicken the mix.
Transfer the potatoes to the buttered gratin dish, spreading them evenly in layers. Pour the cream mix over to cover them.
Crumble ricotta over the top (an optional extra indulgence).
Bake for 30 minutes, until the ricotta is just browning on top.
Cooking your ribeye steaks
Pat the steaks dry with kitchen towel and season well on both sides with salt & pepper.
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium – high heat. The oil must be hot before you carefully add your steaks.
Reduce heat to medium. Add the butter and garlic to the pan, and use these to baste the steaks.
Cook to your liking – a medium rare 4 cm steak should take about 3 minutes on each side.
Leave to rest for about 5 minutes, ideally on a rack. This allows the meat’s juices to even out, so it’s more tasty and tender.
Serve with a drizzle of pesto, dauphinoise and some watercress leaves with finely sliced red onion on the side.
