Sirloin Steak with Diane sauce, homemade onion rings and chips. Shrimp salad starters.
#OldSkool
Okay so this is a traditional dinner which I made last night.
Starters, ingredients;
Enough fresh shrimp for 3 people or simply a box from Marks/Tesco etc.
Fresh green salad, cue, red onion. Lemon.
Mayonnaise, tomato purée and nutty seeded bread. In our case we used Tesco finest nutty Rye bread with sunflower seeds.
Main course ingredients;
The best sirloin steak you can afford to get (or steak of your choosing)
French mustard (NOT!! Dijon!)
Cream
Three/four cloves of garlic.
One red onion or two shallots
Peppercorns
Beef stock (200ml)
Brandy (triple shot or so)
Two large glasses of good red wine
Maris piper potatoes cut into classic French fries or chips.
Garlic baguette (ciabatta ones are amazing for this)
Onion rings;
150g self raising flour or plain with a touch of bicarbonate of soda.
180ml of soda water or sparkling water.
2 large onions cut into 1cm thick rings.
Method;
First things first, get your potatoes peeled and cut into French fries or chips and your chip pan really hot and then Blanche your chips so they’re half cooked only. Do not fully cook them. Take them out of the pan, pop them into a tray with kitchen roll and simply leave them rest.
The sauce;
In a jug add 250ml of boiling water from the kettle and two organic beef stock cubes (Kallo ones are best)
Chop up your shallots and garlic very finely. Then gently dry fry them in a deep walled frying pan so they sweat a little. Remove them from the pan, wipe the pan dry with some kitchen roll then put back on the heat. Add a small handful of peppercorns until they start to gently smoke. Be very careful here - add the brandy and set it alight, either with a match or by tilting the pan to the flame.
Add your stock then the cream, the onions and garlic, salt, and two large tablespoons of French mustard. Finally add two good glasses of red wine and cook out for half an hour or so. Switch off and allow to cool.
Onion rings;
Add the flour into a bowl with plenty of seasoning and slowly add the soda water stirring continuously. Cut your onions 1cm thick ringlets and then add to the batter mix. You want the mix to be a very thick paste.
Starters;
Mix two large tablespoons of tomato purée with four tablespoons of mayonnaise. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze some lemon juice out and mix it into the Mary Rose sauce you’ve just made. Pop that into the fridge for a few minutes while you wash the shrimp, pop those in the fridge.
Prepare your green salad and very finely sliced red onion. Mix the salad but being very delicate in the order of layering the food.
Start with the green lettuce first, fresh cherry tomatoes around the lettuce, then add cucumber and then your finely sliced onion.
Grab your shrimp and Mary Rose, gently mix the shrimp into the sauce and place carefully into the sauce.
Finally spoon onto the salad.
Butter the bread and cut into small eithts triangles and place around the plate then serve, with a sprinkle of chilli powder or paprika on top.
Season your steaks and put the sauce on a low heat so it simmers nicely and reduces.
Get the chip pan on. Oven on and garlic bread in the oven.
To cook the steak ideally you want a griddle or griddle pan.
A few minutes either side is sufficient for medium rare.
Get the chip pan extremely hot, drop the half cooked chips in, get your steaks on.
When the chips are cooked drain and add to a baking tray into the oven for a few minutes. Grab a heavy pan and take a few ladles of hot oil (be careful) and add to a very high heat - then slowly drop your onion rings in, turning occasionally.
When done, remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest.
From there cut the bread up, leave the steak rest for a few minutes then serve everything while it’s piping hot.
Pour a good glass and then feet up, drink up and enjoy.
I know this is not a quick and easy recipe and bit more of a longer post, but hope you enjoy it.
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