Pan roasted rib-eye steak and mushrooms, local asparagus, broccoli and romesco

Steak and mushrooms have an amazing synergy. Mushrooms cooked in those wonderful steak juices are just divine… If you like both, you’ll love this! Interestingly steak is slightly better priced at the moment, possibly due to the fact that pubs and restaurants are not buying any. There are also quite a few other ingredients like king oyster mushrooms popping up too, usually snaffled up by commercial kitchens, so keep your eyes open for anything interesting whilst doing your shop. If you can’t find king oyster Mushrooms any mushroom with a bit of heft would work well, such as field or portobello mushrooms.

If you want to put in a little bit of extra effort a spoonful of Romesco adds a flash of colour, acts as a sauce and packs a lot of additional flavour. You’ll want to make this ahead, you can find the recipe for this below.

You will need:

Serves 2

2 8oz rib-rye steaks

75g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

75g oyster mushrooms, roughly torn

1 king oyster mushrooms, halved lengthways and scored

1/2 bunch of asparagus, cut into 3cm lengths

150g tenderstem broccoli

12g salted butter

rapeseed oil

1 tbsp olive oil

Maldon salt

black pepper grinder

1 cloves of garlic, broken

1 small sprig of thyme

Pans:

Thick bottomed frying pan for the steak

A medium sized sauce pan for the asparagus and broccoli, and a spare one of a similar size or larger.

A small rack over a dish to place the steaks on to rest and collect the juices – placed somewhere warm to prevent the steaks from going cold, but not so hot they over cook.

Colander

Method:

30 mins before you want to start cooking, remove your steaks from the fridge to allow them to come up to room temperature.

The key to this recipe is having everything prepared before you start to cook, as once you start cooking it all comes together nice and quickly. So make sure your veggies are prepared, your pans are on the hob ready to go and your plates are out of the cupboard, ideally placed somewhere that they will gently warm ready for serving.

  1. Once you’re prepped, heat your heavy based frying pan on a medium to high heat. Whilst it comes up to temperature, sprinkle the steaks with rapeseed oil and season with Maldon salt and ground pepper (always oil the meat not the pan, it will reduce the amount of hot fat splashes whilst cooking).


  2. Put your steaks in the pan and sear on both sides, then add the butter, thyme and garlic and baste the steaks with the melted herby mix. Continue to turn your steaks every minute until they are cooked to just under your preference, turning will ensure even cooking. Then place the steaks on a rack over a dish in a warm place (I warm the oven and use that to rest the meat ,make sure it's switched off and the door is ajar). You will need to rest your steaks for the same amount of time that you have cooked them for. Whilst they rest they will continue to cook slightly, so cooking them slightly under will ensure you don’t end up with overdone steaks. For example cooking to medium rare will rest out to medium. Resting allows the fibers of the steak to relax. This ensures it is more tender and avoids it notionally “bleeding on your plate”. Those juices are not blood but a protein called myoglobin. We want to allow this proteins to redistribute throughout the steak, not dribble away! Resting time is as important as the actual cooking.


  3. Whilst your steaks are resting add the king oyster mushrooms to the hot steak pan, scored side down. Allow to reach a golden colour. Flip them over and then add the quartered chestnut mushrooms.


  4. Allow to cook for a minute or two and then add the juices collected from your resting steaks. In the meantime boil your kettle, add water to your medium sauce pan, salt and bring back to a boil ready for your veg.

  1. Taste your sauce and adjust the seasoning and set aside.


  1. Add the asparagus and broccoli to the pan of boiling water and cook for 90 seconds. Then, strain through a colander into another saucepan, not the kitchen sink. Then rest the colander on the pan which now holds the hot water (make sure the water doesn’t actually come through the colander, so your vegetables aren’t sitting in water). Drizzle the asparagus and broccoli with 1tbsp of olive oil, and season with Maldon salt and ground pepper. The steam from the hot water beneath the colander will keep your vegetables hot while you assemble your plates.


  1. I like to slice the steak onto the plate and use the sauce and vegetables to decorate, and if using, a spoonful of Romesco.


  1. Enjoy!

Romesco will fill a 1 kilo kilner jar

These is a superbly flavoursome sauce and accompaniment. It takes a little effort but I can promise you it’s worth it. Smokey, spicy and garlicky. Classically great with fish but also great with steak, pork and amazing with charred broccoli or asparagus.

You will need:

1 sterilised Kilner jar - wash well in hot soapy water. Remove the rubber seals and boil. Rinse the jars and place upside down in a preheated oven 120 degrees and allow to dry.

3 whole large red peppers

1 whole red chilli

3 cloves of garlic, husk on

1 sprig thyme

1 sprig rosemary

300ml olive oil

2 slices of stale bread, broken up

1 small handful of cherry plum tomatoes

200g ground almonds

Juice of 1 lemon

3 teaspoons of smoked paprika

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200â