Griddled rump steak with watercress, hazelnut and red chilli pesto
Griddled rump steak with watercress, hazelnut & red chilli pesto
A relaxed but restaurant-quality main course for two
- Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Plus resting - Serves 2
- Easy
Ingredients
- 50g blanched hazelnuts
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and roughly sliced
- 85g watercress
- 1½ tbsp olive oil, plus extra for griddling
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, plus 2 tsp
- 2 rump steaks, about 140g each
Choosing steak
If you buy
beef that has been aged for at least 21 days,
it will have greater depth of flavour and be
more tender. Look for steaks with a yellow
tinge to the fat. This indicates that the cattle
have been grass- and not grain-fed, which
gives the meat a richer taste. There should
also be a good marbling of fat throughout
the flesh, which will add flavour and help
to keep the meat juicy during cooking.
Roasted garlic mash
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
Place 3 large, unpeeled garlic cloves in a shallow tray. Roast for 20-30 mins until skin is
yellowed and cracked. (This can be done
at the same time as the hazelnuts for the
pesto.) Meanwhile, boil 400g potatoes, peeled and cut, for
15-20 mins until tender. Drain and mash
with 85g butter and 3 tbsp milk, then season well. Squeeze garlic
flesh from skin and stir through
the mash.
Know-how
When griddling meat and vegetables,
always oil the food and not the pan.
This will ensure that there is no excess
oil to drip between the ridges of the griddle
and burn, which will taint your food and
create a lot of smoke.
Method
-
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Place the hazelnuts in a baking tray, then toast in the oven for 5-10 mins until golden (you can roast the garlic for the mash at the same time). Leave the nuts to cool a little. Put the cooled nuts, chilli, 50g of the watercress, 1½ tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic and some seasoning in a food processor, then blitz until finely chopped. The mixture shouldn’t be too smooth – there should still be some texture to the nuts. Set aside.
-
Heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Rub the steaks with a little oil, then season both sides with salt. Cook the steaks on the griddle for 2 mins on each side – this will give you medium rare (cook for 3 mins for medium or 4 mins for well done, if you prefer). Remove from the griddle, then sit on a plate for 5 mins to rest. Stir any juices from the resting steak into the pesto – they’re delicious and shouldn’t be wasted.
-
To serve, divide the Roasted garlic mash (recipe, below) between 2 plates, top with a little watercress, then sit a steak across it. Top the steaks with a large tbsp of the pesto and drizzle the rest of the balsamic over.
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