So normally I would say I am a very relaxed cook, not much goes wrong and I don't really do panicking, but on Saturday night I had a really clumsy day.
I had some girls over for steak and a movie and while drinking wine and gossiping in the kitchen I had one of the most dangerous accidents so far, I chucked in my potatoes to the boiling hot pan of oil and it went mad and overflowed all over the cooker top, thankfully I turned the gas off and nothing caught fire but there was a dangerous amount of boiling hot oil all over the kitchen. And then while clearing up the oil around one of the gas burners I set fire to some kitchen roll. Anyway a few things dropped on the floor and glasses spilled later, we had awesome steak with the best shoestring fries. So just a warning when using a pan of hot oil compared to a controlled fryer, check the temperature and gently lower in the chips in small amounts and don't drink wine and talk about boys!
2 sirloin steaks
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into skinny matchsticks
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked off
1 clove of garlic peeled and finely sliced
tsp of lemon zest
tsp of sea salt flakes
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 small garlic clove, crushed or very finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Get your steaks out the fridge at least half an hour before so that they get to room temperature, drizzle some olive oil over and season generously.
For the parsley oil, chop the garlic and parsley up as fine as you can, mix it in a ramekin and cover with olive oil and a pinch of salt and some pepper.
To make the lemon salt, zest the lemon into a pestle and mortar with the sea salt and grind until its yellow and fine.
Get a griddle pan smoking hot and fry the steaks for about 1 1/2 mins on each side for rare, 2 mins for medium rare. Once done put them on a warm plate, spoon on some parsley oil and cover with foil and lay a kitchen towel over the top, this keeps them warm while they rest. Resting is very important as the meat tenses up when cooked and relaxes as it cools down keeping it juicy and tasting much better, rest for at least 10 mins.
Fill your fryer with sunflower oil and preheat to 180˚C. If you are doing it in a pan put a piece of potato in when the oil is cold and start to heat, when the potato is floating and dark golden brown the oil has reached temperature.
Put your potato matchsticks on kitchen paper or a tea towel to remove any starch and gently lower into the oil in small batches, cook until golden brown and crisp and add the rosemary and garlic in the last 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon take the fries out of the oil onto a big heap of kitchen roll to remove the grease. Keep doing this until all the fries have been cooked then season with the lemon salt and serve along with your juicy steaks and a big a green salad.
I had some girls over for steak and a movie and while drinking wine and gossiping in the kitchen I had one of the most dangerous accidents so far, I chucked in my potatoes to the boiling hot pan of oil and it went mad and overflowed all over the cooker top, thankfully I turned the gas off and nothing caught fire but there was a dangerous amount of boiling hot oil all over the kitchen. And then while clearing up the oil around one of the gas burners I set fire to some kitchen roll. Anyway a few things dropped on the floor and glasses spilled later, we had awesome steak with the best shoestring fries. So just a warning when using a pan of hot oil compared to a controlled fryer, check the temperature and gently lower in the chips in small amounts and don't drink wine and talk about boys!
2 sirloin steaks
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into skinny matchsticks
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked off
1 clove of garlic peeled and finely sliced
tsp of lemon zest
tsp of sea salt flakes
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 small garlic clove, crushed or very finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Get your steaks out the fridge at least half an hour before so that they get to room temperature, drizzle some olive oil over and season generously.
For the parsley oil, chop the garlic and parsley up as fine as you can, mix it in a ramekin and cover with olive oil and a pinch of salt and some pepper.
To make the lemon salt, zest the lemon into a pestle and mortar with the sea salt and grind until its yellow and fine.
Get a griddle pan smoking hot and fry the steaks for about 1 1/2 mins on each side for rare, 2 mins for medium rare. Once done put them on a warm plate, spoon on some parsley oil and cover with foil and lay a kitchen towel over the top, this keeps them warm while they rest. Resting is very important as the meat tenses up when cooked and relaxes as it cools down keeping it juicy and tasting much better, rest for at least 10 mins.
Fill your fryer with sunflower oil and preheat to 180˚C. If you are doing it in a pan put a piece of potato in when the oil is cold and start to heat, when the potato is floating and dark golden brown the oil has reached temperature.
Put your potato matchsticks on kitchen paper or a tea towel to remove any starch and gently lower into the oil in small batches, cook until golden brown and crisp and add the rosemary and garlic in the last 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon take the fries out of the oil onto a big heap of kitchen roll to remove the grease. Keep doing this until all the fries have been cooked then season with the lemon salt and serve along with your juicy steaks and a big a green salad.