So today is my birthday and I wanted to enjoy one of my favorite foods. Steak. I could quite happily be a vegetarian, except for the fact that every now and then I enjoy eating a good steak.
When I was a much younger woman, in another lifetime, I used to love being treated to a meal out at Ponderosa or Bonanza, both chain steak houses in North America. You could get a decent steak cooked to your idea perfection . . .
Along with your favorite sides, be they fat steak cut chips, or baked potatoes, fried onions, grilled mushrooms, onion rings . . . there was also a salad bar that came free with every meal.
The salad bars were crazy delicious. The trick was to NOT fill up on the salad bar before you got your meal!
At that time I would have shuddered at the thought of eating Stilton cheese, let alone enjoying it melted on top of a juicy steak. Boy oh boy . . .
I was missing out on a delicious piece of steak heaven! This is fabulous and what I choose to enjoy on my 64th Birthday this year!
A tender sirloin steak . . . seasoned with a tasty steak seasoning rub (my friend Lura sends me it from America) and grilled to perfection . . . then topped with some crumbled Stilton cheese, which melts and gilds the top . . . .
Pure taste perfection . . .
Next to that a fluffy pile of mashed sweet and white potatoes, flavoured with cream and butter and garlic . . . don't judge me . . . lol . . .
The sweet potato makes this mash slightly better for this diabetic than a mash that would have been just white potatoes . . . but there is so much flavor in that that I will be happy with only a small amount.
Again, flavor perfection . . .
On the side Frenched runner beans, fresh from the garden . . . love them too . . .
Altogether this is a beautiful birthday meal. Nummity Nummity!
Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash
Yield: 4Author: Marie RaynerThis dish is all about delicious. From tender perfectly cooked steaks with that melted Stilton on top to the lush sweet potato mash, it is a winner all round!
ingredients:
For the potatoes:- 1 1/2 pounds floury potatoes, for mashing, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1/3 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- knob of butter
- 60ml cream (1/4 cup)
- salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
- steak seasoning
- 4 sirloin steaks, each about 1/2 inch thick and weighing 225g/7 ounces
- 70g Stilton cheese (2 1/2 ounces)
- Chopped fresh parsley and thyme to garnish
instructions:
How to cook Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash
- First make the mash. Place the white and sweet potatoes and garlic into a saucepan of lightly salted water to cover. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain well and then return the pan and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out a bit. Mash well with a potato masher, adding in the cream and knob of butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Cover and keep warm while you cook the steaks.
- To cook the steaks, season them well on both sides with your steak seasoning. Preheat the grill to high. Cook the steaks under the hot grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cook time, according to your preference. (We like our steaks medium rare and so opt for the shorter time.) A minute or so before they are done, crumble the Stilton cheese over top and pop back under the grill at which time the steaks should be done perfectly and the cheese melted. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs and serve immediately along with the hot mash.
OH boy, but this is some good. A new favorite combination. I hope it will be for you as well!
Up tomorrow: Chicken Schnitzels
Yay!!
