FOOD:It's hard to beat a real Caesar salad followed by a fillet steak to satisfy a hungry carnivore, writes Domini Kemp.
I WAS VEGETARIAN for about seven years and finally cracked one night, after too much wine and the lure of a buttery, bacon butty, grilled to crispy, salty perfection. Once I'd broken my seven-year vegetable itch, I scratched it with a carnivorous vengeance. Steaks are one of my favourite things to make at home, along with a top Caesar salad. Don't get me started on Caesar salads in restaurants. Suffice to say, most chefs think it is simply beneath them to make one.
It is helpful to understand that when frying a piece of meat in a little olive oil on a hot pan, the hiss and sizzle you hear is water escaping from the meat, hitting the pan and vaporising. If you don't hear that constant sizzle, your pan isn't hot enough, or you've overloaded it.
Searing gives flavour. That is all. Please don't be fooled into believing that by searing a steak, you are sealing in the juices. Wrong. The key is to get a crust to form and then to flip your steak regularly (at 30 second intervals) to help diffuse the heat and give you a much juicier interior. Also, never cook your steak straight from the fridge. It is much better to let it come to room temperature, but if I said keep it out for an hour, the hygiene police would be giving out to me, so 15 to 30 minutes will do.
For those of you who like your meat well done, cut your thick steak into two thinner slices. It will will cook more quickly than a thick one as the heat can penetrate more quickly.
Caesar salad dressing
Makes a big batch - should get enough to dress eight salads. Points to remember:
Egg yolks must be at room temperature or they won't thicken
Add the oil very slowly at the start. Once it has started to thicken, you can speed up the oil flow. Make it with a whisk or blender/food processor.
If it curdles/splits, stop mixing. Start off with a fresh egg yolk and add the curdled mixture back to it, very slowly.
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
300ml sunflower oil
100ml olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Juice and zest 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Pinch caster sugar
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Tons of black pepper
Optional: 100g finely grated Parmesan
Mix the egg yolks with the Dijon mustard and add less than a teaspoon of sunflower oil. Keep whisking, and add a few drops more. Add droplets until you feel a definite change in texture. Once it has stared to thicken, you can start pouring in the oils in a very light stream. When you have added about 200ml of the oils, add the remaining ingredients. It will get slightly watery again. Resume whisking in the remaining oils, slowly at first, and then in a steady stream. Decide on a consistency you like. If it's too thick, add a few tablespoons of water. Taste it. Add the Parmesan. if using. Leave the flavours to develop for an hour or so, taste it again and keep refrigerated for up to a week, provided your eggs were very fresh.
Caesar salad with croutons
3-4 slices (about 300g) good white bread such as sourdough, country boule
3 tablespoons olive oil
50g butter
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and pepper
Cos lettuce
Heat the oven to 140 degrees/gas mark one. Cut the bread into bite-sized pieces. Let them go stale (by leaving them out for an hour), if you have time. Heat the oil and butter in a non-stick pan until the butter is foaming, then add the bread. Stir, and try to evenly coat the bread with the oil and butter. Once they have started to colour, remove the croutons from the heat. Add the garlic and season well. Mix around and then transfer to a baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes, occasionally shaking the croutons in the tray, until they are golden brown. When they are cool, add them to two heads of washed Cos lettuce, a handful of grated Parmesan and a few spoonfuls of the Caesar dressing.
Fillet steak
Buy thick steaks that weigh at least 200g. Two steaks to a pan is plenty. Marinate the steaks in a few tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of soy sauce, a few sprigs of thyme and a few whole, peeled garlic cloves and lots of black pepper, for anything from an hour to overnight. Bring them to room temperature and then heat up a teaspoon of oil in a stainless steel or iron (not non-stick) pan, or chargrill pan, until it is very hot. Fry the steaks on one side. When they have released their fibres, they will flip over easily. If they are sticking to the pan, leave them be. They will release when they are ready.
Once you have a good crust on each side, add a knob of butter, season with a little salt and pepper. Start flipping the steaks every 30 seconds, and reduce the heat. When you are happy with their colour, turn off the heat, move the pan to a cooler part of the cooker and leave the steaks to rest for a few minutes. They should still seem tender and fleshy. This entire cooking process should only take about eight minutes for medium-rare. Leave them to rest for five minutes before serving.