Steak Sandwiches (...sort of)

Gordon Ramsay inspired "Steak Sandwiches" that I turned in to "steak on toast"....!

My wife and I have moved in to a new home, and with no stove (that's another story.....won't be here until mid-September....so they SAY.....), we're relying on our other appliances to get us through. We had a gas line installed to permit us to use our BBQ and so I christened it's functional use today with some fresh steaks!!

I had seen a video of Mr. Ramsay cooking up some steaks (there are quite a few videos out there), but this one struck me because of his homemade relish that he made.

So there I was, off to the store to collect a few items. I wish they had yellow cherry tomatoes; the colour contrast would have been great, but they only had the red colour - no matter - the taste was there for sure!

What follows is the method and ingredients that I had on hand and used to actually make this. Gordon Ramsay's version is far superior with his mustard and Ciabatta bread.

Ingredients

Olive oil, for frying

2 Sirloin steaks

1 whole head of garlic, cut in half horizontally

3–4 thyme sprigs

Butter

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Two pieces of toast; buttered

[Ingredients for the relish]

Olive oil, for frying

½ red onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped

250g mixed red cherry tomatoes, halved

1–2 tsp sherry vinegar, to taste

Small handful of shredded basil leaves

Method

1. Preheat the BBQ to 350 degrees. Alternatively, you can heat up your oven to 350 as well.

2. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan until hot and add a glug of oil. Grind a generous amount of salt and pepper onto a board and roll the steaks in the seasoning. Fry over a high heat for 1–2 minutes on each side until gently coloured all over, including the ends.

3. Add the garlic and thyme sprigs, heat for a minute, then sit the beef on top of them. Add a couple of knobs of butter, spooning it over the steak to baste. Don't forget to take your tongs and rub/massage your heads of garlic right over the tops of your steak while they're searing. The garlic will rub off on to the steaks imparting some wonderful full flavours!

4. Place the beef in the preheated BBQ (or oven) and roast for 15–17 minutes until rare or medium rare. It should feel springy when pressed. Remove from the BBQ/oven, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes, basting now and again with the juices from the pan. Don't forget to do this. The trick is to keep these steaks warm and moist. The 'beurre noisette' that is infused with steak drippings, thyme and garlic will boost the flavour of your steaks.

5. Meanwhile, make the relish. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and chillies and fry over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until softened.

6. Stir in the tomatoes, then season with salt and pepper and cook for 6–8 minutes until the tomatoes are beginning to collapse. (Soon after this I used a potato masher to squish up the softened tomatoes).

7. Add the sherry vinegar and stew down over a medium heat for about 6 minutes until reduced to a rough relish consistency. Remove from the heat, stir in the basil and season well. Tip into a serving bowl and set aside.

8. To serve, thickly slice the rested fillet of beef, butter two pieces of toast, place on a platter and put on the table with the toast, mayonnaise, relish and lettuce leaves to be assembled by your guests. I cut my steak and laid it on the toast and served the relish in dollops on the plate.

Sooooooo goooooooodddddddd!

If you'd like Gordon's full recipe, you can find it here: https://www.gordonramsay.com/gr/recipes/steak-sandwiches/