Peppered Rib-Eye

One of those cook the steak and make a sauce in the pan things.

Ingredients
250gm rib eye (whole piece); 1 tbs of black pepper; 1tbs of szechuan pepper; 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped; same amount of rosemary finely chopped.

Crush the peppercorns roughly in a pestle and then put in a fine sieve to get rid of the powder. I'm not exactly sure why this is done but my theory is that pepper can get a bitter taste if burnt and in larger bits it's less likely to burn. Purely speculative of course. Baste the meat with some olive oil and roll it in the pepper mix, pressing down. Left to sit for two hours.

Get the heavy-based fry pan nice and hot. I used goose fat but any oil with high smoke point could be used. Because of the shape, I cooked it on all four sides and this took about 12 minutes in total to get it medium rare. During cooking you may need to reduce the heat to get that balance of cooked through without being burnt on the outside. It's a good ides to have the oven ready so if it's looking like it's going to be burnt on the outside, you can do the rest of the cooking in the oven. Remove and rest for 10 minutes.

Remove the burnt bits of pepper from the pan. Splash some brandy into the pan and burn off the alcohol (flambe for drama or just wait a minute). Stir in a few tablespoons of demi-glace (or more beef stock). I've got my demi-glace sitting in the freezer in those ice cube bags and just tore off a couple of cubes. Scrape the bottom of the pan and then whisk in a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Cut the rib eye in half. It was cooked through to medium-rare but because of the cut, it felt much rarer and I expected having to return it to the pan. Served on a rosti - made easier by a new rosti pan. Trimmed asparagus cooked in butter on top, then the steak, with the sauce poured on top with a side of roquet.

Can't say it wasn't superb but much of this was to do with the cut of meat. Costing more than any of the other cuts, it's a good argument for buying better and buying less. 125gm of steak each was more than sufficient and enough energy to catch Radio Birdman at the Concert Hall. Book 'em Danno.