Hi, welcome back to my series of Winter Warmers.
Today I am going to be cooking steak with puy lentils and a beautiful herb creme fraiche.
[Music]
You can find the full list of ingredients for this recipe in the description box.
So this is a beautiful piece of aged rum steak, and it's so large and thick that I think that
you can almost get away with this one steak for two people.
But steaks are so easy to cook but people get it wrong.
First of all, you want your pan searing hot.
The first side that you put your steak down on is your presentation side so you want beautiful
color on that.
Always oil your steak and not your pan.
If you start putting oil into your pan it's going to start smoking, and your kitchen is
going to be filled.
You always get a bit of smoke because of the temperature.
But doing it this way means you're not going to have the fire brigade out.
So, oil your steak and then lots of black pepper.
There is a theory that you put salt on after cooking, not before because it draws out the
moisture.
I am of the school of thought that you can do either, whichever makes you happy.
This time I am going to season before putting it in the pan.
Season both sides, and that may look like a lot of salt but as this hits the pan most
of it is going to come off and just season the oil and the pan itself.
So pan up to full heat,
and then the prettier side, which I think is that side, goes down first.
And you want to hear that sizzling sound.
Leave it!
As soon as you start moving it around you're going to lose some of the heat, and then you're
going to start stewing it rather than frying it.
Now that's cooking, and steak takes such little time I'm going to be using pre cooked puy
lentils.
Now I'm not a fan of tin foods and things like that but beans and pulses that are pre
cooked are so great.
Cooking these from raw would take about 40 to 50 minutes, so these pre packed ones are
great.
But I am going to jazz them up so in a little pan here, which again is nice and warm, I
am going to add a dash of olive oil and a little bit of butter; this is just for flavor.
And then into that, some chopped onions, some carrot, and some finely chopped leek.
You just want to give this a good stir,
and let this soften.
It will take about ten minutes.
So when cooking steak you want to take it out of the fridge 20 minutes to half an hour
before you cook it.
This will allow it to warm it up a little bit so when it hits the heat of the pan, it
won't seize up.
It's a general rule for fish and chicken; it's not going to poison you, it's only twenty
minutes.
So have a quick look under the steak.
It's got a beautiful color.
Turn that over and push it down.
Now all these dark brown bits are just beautiful flavor.
This is the side you're going to do most of your cook on so you can turn it down, and
it all depends on how well you like your steak cooked.
So now the carrots, celery and onions are starting to soften so you can add your puy
lentils.
So if you're using dried lentils you can add them to the pan and let them cook slowly with
a bit of stock for about 40 minutes, topping it up as you go.
But with these are literally needed to be warmed through.
So puy lentils have a beautiful, dark sort of nutty color.
And then I am just going to add a dash of white wine,
optional,
for a bit of extra flavor.
Then a little bit of stock to loosen them up.
And then you can just turn the heat down and let these bubble away for five minutes or
so, just until they are nice and warm through.
So to go with these beautiful puy lentils and steak I'm sort of going to make a dressing
cross cream cross, well, sauce really but it's super quick.
This is creme fraiche into a bowl.
And creme fraiche is one of those things that can be used with savory or sweet dishes depending
on what you do; add a bit of sugar it obviously goes down a sweet route, and as soon as you
add black pepper and a bit of salt then it almost becomes a savory sauce instantly.
So a little bit of salt, and then just to take it that one stage further I just got
soft herbs; any soft herb like coriander, basil, parsley, chives or whatever you've
got at hand really.
So today I am going to use chives and a little bit of parsley.
Just finely chop those.
And then, literally just a handful of your herbs in there.
You can add a bit of mustard, horse radish would be really nice in there, or a squeeze
of lemon juice.
It really is very versatile.
And that is the quickest sauce ever.
So I'm just going to have a little feel of my steak.
It's so thick you could almost, if you want it cooked all the way through without it coloring
too much, you could pop it through the oven at about 200 for a couple of minutes.
But I like my steak almost still mooing and moving, so for me that's about right.
Now, the important thing with steak: you need to rest it.
Any meat needs to rest.
If you stuck your bottom on a hot hob, your bum cheeks would clench and you would need
a little bit of time to go back to normal and it's the same with a steak.
The fibers have tightened as it hits the hot pan and if you let it relax it will all just
loosen up a bit, become tender, and the juices will stay within your steak.
So, I'm just going to cook it on the fat side for a just a couple of minutes to give it
a bit of color.
And then just pop it out onto a plate to rest for a good five minutes.
These juices in the pan, you can deglaze it because this is all flavor.
The little dash of white wine, give it a swirl around and then that can go into your puy
lentils.
And those lentils are done.
I'm just going to have a quick taste to see if they need any seasoning.
No salt, just a tiny bit of black pepper.
It all depends on how salty your stock is to start with.
Give it a final stir, and those lentils are done.
These are great with sausages, pork, lamb or anything.
So really it's simple as that.
My lentils are all cooked, my creme fraiche is made up, and my steak is cooked and rested.
Now all these beautiful juices that have come from the steak need to go into my lentils;
it's full of flavor.
So now I just need to plate up,
some of the beautiful, moist lentils on the bottom that have absorbed all that stock,
the meat juice and little bit of wine.
And then my steak, I'm just going to give that a little bit of a carving.
I quite like big chunks, rather than tiny fine slices to it; and as I said this is quite
a large steak so maybe just two bits of this.
And then, rocket leaves.
I know it's a salad but if you want to you can stir them through the lentils.
When they wilt they get this beautiful warmth from the pepperiness of them, and so I'm just
going to add a little bit of rocket on top.
If you take a handful of rocket leaves and just make them into a little ball in your
hands, they're quite nice to plate on top.
And because these are undressed salad leaves, a little bit of olive oil on top, and don't
forget your wonderful creme fraiche; this acts as a beautiful sauce.
And there you have it, delicious puy lentils, a beautiful steak and a lovely herb creme
fraiche!
It almost looks like you could have gotten it from your local restaurant.
I really hope to see you again for the rest of my recipes in the Winter Warmers series.
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