Recipe: Seared beef with pomme Anna and creamed spring peas .

Ingredients

One onion – finely chopped

One clove of garlic - finely chopped

Two 8oz fillets of beef

Two medium baking potatoes

Sprig of fresh thyme – de-stemmed and chopped

Sprig of fresh rosemary – de-stemmed and chopped

Four ounces of butter

Six ounces of fresh peas

One glass of white wine

¼ pint of double cream

A little fresh basil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A little more butter and some oil for frying

Method

The potato part of this dish needs to be done a little in advance – at least 45 minutes – but can be done well before the meal and then reheated. Preheat the oven to gas mark 3, 160 °C. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices no more than ¼“ thick. In a pan, gently melt the butter, add the potatoes and herbs and a little salt and pepper. Carefully mix together until the potatoes are well coated. Place two metal pastry rings on a baking tray, fill each ring to the top with the potato mixture and bake in the oven. To tell when they're cooked, test with a skewer or thin knife like you would when testing boiled potatoes but it will probably take around 45 minutes. If you do these in advance, they can be reheated in the oven, still in their rings, at the same temperature for about 15 minutes.

The rest of the dish is very quick. In a medium sized saucepan gently sweat the onion and garlic in a little butter and oil. Don't allow to colour. Once the onion is tender, add the peas and continue to sweat for another couple of minutes then add the wine, bring to the boil and reduce by half. Add the cream and again reduce by half.

Meanwhile, put a frying pan on to heat with a little oil. Cut the steaks length-ways, through the middle to make each into two thinner fillets and quickly fry, over a relatively high heat, to your liking (preferably rare).

To serve, chop the basil into the creamed peas, taste and adjust the seasoning. Place some of the creamed peas on the centre of warmed plates, pile the beef on top and, removing the potatoes from the ring, put the potatoes alongside.

* Metal pastry cutter rings are useful things to have in the kitchen – not least for cutting pastry - but also for holding food together whilst it's being cooked. If you can't get your hands on any you could consider using very well buttered ramekins and, to serve, carefully running a small knife around the potato edge, turning them out onto a plate and then carefully turning them over again to serve the right way up.