I'm cooking my version of a French classic with a Marseille twist, herby steak and crispy potatoes.
I've used these beautiful red skin potatoes, they've been cooking for like 15 minutes
on a medium heat with salt and pepper, a little splash of olive oil just to get them
going. So that is nearly cooked. Nice rustic chunks of potato. Look at this lovely steak,
that's a ribeye steak on the bone. Can you see how there's a little excess fat around here?
Just use a knife to nick a bit. You could always use a smaller sirloin or rump or
even a cheaper cut like a skirt steak and it will taste absolutely delicious. Then what I
can do now is just put some little nuggets of this amazing steak fat in with the potatoes.
And that flavour from the beef will start cooking into those chunky chips.
Okay so lots of black pepper on this gorgeous steak. And salt.
And this will serve two to four people once it's sliced.
Now, pistou is a condiment from Provence, it's really simple it's basil garlic and oil pounded
up to a beautiful little paste. It is absolutely the cousin of pesto so buy a pesto at home,
both work incredibly well with the tomatoes the beef and the potatoes. It's delicious,
it's pungent, and it's full of the flavour of the Mediterranean. So, take some of that pistou,
just a couple of teaspoons, and we're going to rub that all over look at the colour.
It's just beautiful. And of course it normally finishes things so you get a very fragrant side
to it but when it cooks in the pan you get a savoury kind of note from the basil and
the garlic so I love the fact that I'm not just going to get one set of flavours we're
going to get two. Let me just wash my hands a second in my little bowl of soapy water.
So this is very exciting, we have got golden crispy beefy bits, potatoes. They're looking
fantastic so I'm going to take the potatoes off. I'll reheat those a little bit later.
Pan back on, turn it up. Now the fun starts, so, the beef has had a quick little marinade. Let's
put it on its fat side like this first, just hold it there like that, get that fat rendering. Wobbly
fat is not really appealing right, we want crispy fat. You only have to hold it there for like one
minute and you can see how that dancing fat has rendered. So now we lay this in its own fat.
Now I want to cook this medium rare okay so probably about three minutes on each side.
Dancing fat, crispiness, texture. I'm very happy with this steak.
I'm gonna now put my potatoes back in here and let my steak rest.
So that can just chill out for a little sec. I've cooked the pistou into the steak,
now I'm gonna smother it on it once it's cooked and they will rest together,
and of course the juices come out and that will mix with the oil and the basil and the garlic it's
going to be an absolute sensation. So, potato and steak, done. Let's do a delightful tomato salad.
Look at that.
I like to cut the tomatoes quite chunky
and it is much easier to get these coloured tomatoes these days which is a fantastic thing.
Season that with a little sea salt and a little pepper. Take the leftover of this pistou,
right, and turn this condiment into a dressing by adding a little red wine vinegar. It's a clever
little hack. Using ingredients in a couple of different ways is an easy way to maximise flavour.
Right last but not least, pistachios. When we went scouting around the markets there was
loads of nuts, loads of fruits. So it's a little nod to that but also texture, soft and crunchy.
And then I just want to slice into that steak.
Nice big chunks.
Ohh yeah, blushing away.
And then last but not least our sizzling chips. Bringing in the pistachios, the pistou that just
lifts the whole thing makes it juicy and delicious, and without question brings a
little bit of the spirit of the Mediterranean to that Friday night dinner, a bit of everything.
That is a mighty fork, let's get it in there. Mm!
Beautiful.