Rib-eye steak with red wine & pastrami sauce

Steak and chips is hands-down the most popular main course in all my restaurants every Valentine’s. I like to give it a bit of a New York deli vibe and beef up the sauce with chopped pastrami, and serve it with a tangy gherkin ketchup on the side.

SERVES 2 PREP 30 mins COOK 20 mins EASY

2 rib-eye steaks (about 250g each)

2 tbsp vegetable oil 80g butter

2 garlic cloves

2 thyme sprigs

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 shallot, finely chopped 100ml red wine 200ml fresh beef stock

50g pastrami, finely chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 tbsp chopped parsley chips (use ready-made or see bbcgoodfood.com for a recipe) and gherkin ketchup, to serve

1 Season the steaks with salt. Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to fit both steaks, then add half the butter and once melted and foaming, add the garlic and thyme. Carefully put the steak in the pan and cook for 3 mins for rare, 4 mins for medium and 6 mins for well done, flip the steak and repeat. Once cooked, add a squeeze of lemon juice to the pan and spoon the lemony butter over the steak. Transfer the steaks to a warm plate and cover. 2 Pour off the fat from the pan, discard the garlic and thyme and wipe out with kitchen paper. Place the pan back on the heat, add half the remaining butter, and once melted, add the shallot and fry for 30 seconds, then add the wine and reduce to a glaze. Pour in the stock and bring up to the boil, then add the pastrami and chilli and warm through. Finally, stir in the parsley. Put the steaks on plates and spoon over the sauce, with the ketchup (see recipe below) and chips on the side.

GOOD TO KNOW iron

PER SERVING 851 kcals • fat 62g • saturates 28g • carbs 3g • sugars 2g • fibre 1g • protein 60g • salt 1.8g