Steak frites with black garlic butter
Steak frites is one of my favourite dishes in the world. One of the easiest way to make it at home is with my method of microwaving potatoes to make the chips (although frozen fries are excellent if you don't want to go to the effort), and to use a simple compound butter for the steak rather than making a sauce. Once made, the butter can be kept in the freezer for months.
The Everyday large plate is a simply designed plate with a broad flat area at the centre and a slight curve outwards to the lip. This means that juices and sauces pool in the centre rather than running around the plate. It's a simple element of the design, but it really helps dishes like this.
Cooking time
<1hr
Ingredients
- 2 very thick good quality fillet steaks, around 6cm thick
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- vegetable oil, for deep frying
- salt and pepper, to season
- watercress, to serve
- lemon wedges, to serve
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 25 g butter
- olive oil
- Black garlic butter
- 150g softened cultured butter
- 5 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 8 cloves black garlic
- rind of ½ lemon, grated
- 6 anchovies, finely chopped
Method
- Microwave the potatoes for 10 minutes, then cool to room temperature. Chill in the fridge, then cut into thin chips and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Freeze for 2 hours until solid.
- For the black garlic butter blend all the ingredients together to a coarse mixture. I prefer to keep it soft the first time I use it, and the roll it into the log and freeze it for future use after that.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan to about 180C. Fry the chips for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Season well with salt and pepper, and a few leaves of thyme.
- Season the steak well with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan until very hot and add a little oil. Fry the steak on both sides until browned, then add the separate 25 g of butter and thyme to the pan and baste the steak with the butter for a few minutes until cooked to rare (or otherwise to your liking).
- Place the steak on your Everyday large plate and top with a thick slice of butter. Blowtorch the butter to melt slightly, and serve with the chips and watercress, with a wedge of lemon.
