Ultimate Steak Sarnie

Yes I know it's a bit of a claim to make and I'm sure you all have your own version of this culinary masterpiece but here is my version of the mighty steak sarnie.








I think for a steak sarnie to be successful it relies on a few key parts;

The Steak
Obviously it's not gonna be a steak sarnie without this is it, but what cut? Personally I don't think you need to buy anything more pricey than rump steak, sirloin is a bit expensive to put in a sandwich and if anybody puts fillet in there I will hunt you down and confiscate it. Buy it from your butcher not a supermarket for a much better quality piece of beef. The steak in the picture cost me £5, filled a dinner plate and was enough for 3 sandwiches.

The Bread
A nice crusty ciabatta is my choice for this and not, as my dad suggested, a couple of slices of hovis...

Greenery
A bit of variety I think is needed here, Don't bother with iceberg, it has it's place but this is not it. Try watercress or rocket for a nice peppery flavour.

Beyond these elements I reckon you cant go wrong with most other additions...apart from cheese, back away from the cheese.

Ultimate steak sarnie (makes one)
Rump steak (as much as you wish )
Half a ciabatta loaf
Handful of mixed leaves

Fried onions
Splash of oil
half an onion

Butter dressing
Splash of oil
1 clove of garlic
Large lump of butter
Herbage of your choice, I went for rosemary.

Method
Slice your ciabatta and layer up with a good handful of greenery.
Season your steak with olive oil and black pepper and salt.
Thinly slice up the onion and fry gently in a frying pan until soft and golden brown, set aside.
Crush the garlic and fry gently in a saucepan until slightly golden, add the butter and herbs, set aside.

The Steak
Get a griddle pan and place it on the hob until it achieves nuclear temperatures, hotter than the fires of hell is required for this.
Gently lay your steak away from you on the griddle and leave it alone. Do not touch, poke, prod or move it until its time to turn it over.
In terms of timings, it all depends on how well you want your steak cooked and how thick your steak is. Mine was about a centimetre thick and took about 1 -1.30 minutes on each side for medium rare.
Once done on both sides, leave to rest for a few minutes on a warm plate.

Slice up and layer on top of the greenery.
Drizzle over the garlic herb butter and top with the fried onions.
Use the top layer of the ciabatta to soak up the juices left up on the plate after slicing the steak.

Belissimo!

Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins (ish)

I knew these wouldn't work before I even started. However... I went ahead anyway as I'd bought the stuff to make them and I thought I would try my luck.  It's quite tricky to make muffins when you don't have a decent tray to support them in the oven and it's a sad sight watching a muffin case flatten as mixture is poured into it. If you have the required equipment I'm sure they would work quite well...they tasted nice anyways.


Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
250g Plain Flour
20g Baking powder
170g Light brown soft sugar
170ml Whole milk
2 Eggs
110g Soft Butter
150g Raspberries
70g Dark Chocolate, cut into chunks.


Method
Add all ingredients to a bowl, apart from the raspberries and chocolate.
Mix with an electric whisk or hand power until all ingredients are combined.

Stir in the chocolate and raspberries, gently. Don't over mix.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin tin (if you have one). (watch as they start to flatten, shed a tear... just me this bit then?)
Stick into a preheated oven at 200C
Bake for around 15 minutes until golden brown on top and risen.
Remove and cool on a wire rack

Enjoy

Black Banana Cake

It's been awhile since I did any decent cooking or baking, what with the madness that has been the last few weeks. So to get back into it I thought I would do something fairly easy but very tasty. While wondering what to cook, I had a wander round my kitchen and found some rather ripe and squishy bananas which reminded me about Nigel Slater's black banana cake....



I have altered the recipe slightly, adjusting to what I had in my cupboard. The original recipe is here

Black Banana Cake
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter
140g golden caster sugar/35g muscavado sugar
75g ground almonds
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
2 very ripe bananas
drop of vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate/50g white chocolate (cut up into tiny chunks)
sprinkle of brown sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C
Line the base and sides of a loaf tin (20cm/12cm)
Beat the sugars and butter together until light and fluffy
Slowly beat in the eggs to the butter mixture
Beat in the flour and almonds
Chop up the bananas into small pieces and mix gently into the mix along with the chocolate and vanilla extract. Do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the loaf tin, dust with brown sugar and bake for 1 hour - 1 hour and 10 mins

Cover the cake with foil if the top starts to darken to quickly.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack

Serve and enjoy.