John Torode's carpet bag steak
John Torode is donning his lycra and taking to the road once more, this time in beautiful Somerset. He begins in Exmoor National Park, making his way down to Porlock Weir to try some of their famous oysters before cooking a carpetbag steak using local ingredients.
Carpet bag steak
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the steak:2 fillet steaks, each approximately 300g 50g black peppercorns 1 packet streaky bacon or pancetta, around 6-8 pieces75g butter3 tbsp beef stock 4 tbsp brandy 100ml double cream (optional)
To serve:Mash potatoGreen beans
Method
1. Remove the steaks from the fridge.
2. Crush the peppercorns in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle, then sieve them to remove all the dust. Set the peppercorns aside.
3. Press the remaining dust into either side of the steaks.
4. Wrap the steaks in streaky back and secure with toothpicks.
5. Heat 50 g of the butter in a heavy fry pan over a medium heat and place the steaks in the pan.
6. Leave them completely alone until you can see they are forming a golden crust underneath, then turn them over and cook until medium-rare, roughly 3 minutes on each side, or to your taste.
7. Remove the steaks from the pan, remove the toothpicks and keep them warm to one side.
8. Increase the heat of the pan to high. Add the stock and the brandy and flame it carefully to burn off the alcohol.
9. Whisk in the rest of the butter, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate all the tasty scraps of meat. If using cream, add to the sauce. Then bring the sauce briefly to the boil.
10. Pour over the steak and serve with mash potatoes and green beans.