Tom Kitchin's Burns Night supper
It's Burns Night, so we're celebrating all things Scottish with some cuisine inspired by the country with Tom Kitchin's Scoth beef rib-eye steak with parma ham, served with vegetable butter. Perfect washed down with a Robert Burns whisky cocktail!
Serves: 4
**Ingredients**
4 rib-eye Scotch Beef steaks, about 250g each2 tsp olive oil250g Parma ham, finely chopped 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped 50g fennel, trimmed and finely chopped 50g button mushrooms, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 1 tsp chopped parsley 1 tbsp chopped tarragon 250g butter, softened 1 tbsp grain mustard 1 tbsp ground almonds Olive oil for cooking Serve the steak with a crisp green salad
**Method**
Remove the steaks from the fridge, ideally 20 minutes before you need to cook them, to bring them to room temperature
Make the savoury butter. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat, then add a little olive oil. Add the chopped Parma ham to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the shallot, fennel, mushrooms and garlic with the rest of the olive oil and sweat for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped herbs, stir well, then remove from the heat and let cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk the butter until creamy. Add the cooled vegetables and ham and stir to combine. Now add the mustard and ground almonds and mix well. Spoon the butter onto a sheet of cling film and roll it in the cling film to form a log. Twist the ends to secure. Refrigerate to firm up.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy-based, non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Season the steaks well with salt and the cracked pepper. When the pan is very hot, add a little drizzle of olive oil, then the steaks. Colour them quickly, for 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like your meat, lowering the heat to medium after a couple of minutes on each side. In the meantime, unwrap the savoury butter and cut 4 generous slices.
Remove the steaks from the pan to a warmed platter and set aside to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes before serving. Top with a slice of savoury butter and serve with a crisp green salad.
Robert Burns whisky cocktail
35ml blended malt Scotch whisky15ml sweet vermouthA dash of pastis or absintheA dash of orange bitters (or squeeze of orange zest)
Stir all of the ingredients together over ice for 40 secs - 1 minute then strain into a martini glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry or orange twist