Showing posts with label Steak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steak. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

The BEST steak sandwich with sticky onions and steak sauce


 Serves 1

I am partial to a steak sarnie – it’s often the first thing I scan for on pub menus. I suppose it feels a little less naughtier than a burger, but let’s face it, it is pure filthy deliciousness. Well, it is the way I make it. The key is the holy trinity of condiments – this should not be made without the special steak sauce blend…

1 rump steak
Black pepper
½ red onion, finely sliced
Drizzle of oil
Drizzle of Balsamic vinegar
2 slices good, chewy sourdough bread (Love the Real Patisserie Chewy Brown)
1 tsp each Heinz tomato ketchup, French’s Mustard and Hellmans Mayo
Handful rocket leaves
2-3 cherry tomatoes, sliced
Thin shavings of Parmesan cheese

Bash the meat to tenderise and thin it out a little. Trim off any fat and season with black pepper.

In a small frying pan cook the onions in the oil over a gentle heat until soft and translucent. Add a drizzle of balsamic and cook a little longer until sticky. Turn heat off and allow to cool a bit.

Heat a griddle or frying pan until very hot and dry fry the sliced bread until lightly toasted. Set aside then lay in the steak and cook to your liking. (For me, 1.5 mins on both sides is about right by the time it has rested) then put on a plate to rest for 2-3 mins.

Meanwhile mix the 3 sauces to make burger sauce and spread over the toasted bread. Top with a heap of rocket, cherry tomatoes and the cooled sticky onions.


Slice the warm steak on an angle and pile onto the sandwich and scatter with parmesan shavings. Place other slice of bread on top and squash down lightly. Cut in half and devour.


Monday, 17 March 2014

Review: The Ginger Fox, Albourne, Near Brighton

Review: The Ginger Fox, Albourne, Near Brighton



One of the Brighton-based Gingerman restaurant group, The Ginger Fox pub is in a remote countryside setting, close to Devil’s Dyke. I had been many years ago when it was fairly newly opened and getting surprise rave reviews from critics of the nationals. I remember it always being nice but a bit… um poncey. I think they were trying too hard, and the clientele were very much the local ‘yah-yah’s’ which made the place a bit stuffy and formal for me.

Anyway a friend and I stopped there for dinner unexpectedly as The Sportsman pub at Goddards Green were full (having an early St Paddy’s shindig apparently). Well we were frankly lucky to get a table there too as even at 7pm it was almost full. The diners didn’t look like they had changed since I last went (grey, conservative, twin sets etc) and I was certainly one of the youngest at the chirpy age of 34!

A lovely waitress showed us a table and took our coats and we chose a bottle of Malbec to drink while we munched on warm complimentary bread with balsamic and rapeseed oil that you pour yourself from the bottle on the table. The menu isn’t extensive, 5-6 choices for starters and mains, although there are specials on the board. I chose the Chorizo Glazed Rarebreed Pork Belly with Carrots and Chicory and my mate went for the Foie Gras Ballotine with Champagne Rhubarb and Sesame Toast.

Our plates arrived beautifully presented. My pork belly slice was on top of a smear of sticky chorizo syrup and was garnished the tiniest baby carrots I have ever seen and a little bit of lettuce. The pork was soft, sweet and fatty but as there were only two bites worth, £8 seemed a tad steep. The foie gras was rich, naughty and thoroughly gorgeous! Quite a small portion for the amount of toast it came with but you really couldn’t eat too much of this heavenly, smooth pate. It was also prettily decorated with radishes I think.

We both had the Char Grilled Redlands Farm Rib Eye with Duck Fat Chips, Roasted Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Butter and Roasted Parsnips with Almonds (£19.50) Wow wow wow - the steak was cooked to juicy medium perfecttion as requested and tasted so beefy with a lovely, smoky char on the outside. Yes there was quite a lot of fat on the meat, but that's ribeye for you, and it all adds to the flavour. The chips (am a proper chip fiend at the moment) were easily the best I have ever had - dark gold, super crunchy and absolutely gorgeous It was almost like they had been fried in a batter - they sounded like glass but were fluffy inside. Reckon they might use the Heston triple cook method, but whatever it is I am coming back for these on my lunch break!

So the bill came to £80 with the wine, and the food was excellent, it really was. If it was 10-12% cheaper I would eat here often, but given its formality and the extra expense, think it might be a place for special occasions only or possibly business meetings.