Grilled steak, red wine lentils and salsa verde

By Birgitta

Recipe from Allegra McEvedy, co-founder of Leon

When ordering steak, you generally do better for your money by getting one large slab and sharing it out. Thick steaks also cook better so going Dutch on a big portion means you're more likely to get a perfectly turned-out piece of meat.

Ingredients

• For the salsa verde:
• 1 rib-eye steak, about 450g, room temperature
• 150 g puy lentils
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 stick celery, sliced
• 2 small carrots, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 100 ml red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 600 ml beef stock (if using a cube, make half a litre of stock and dilute with 100ml water)
• Pinch of sugar
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 large handful of flat-leaf parsley
• 1 smaller handful of mint
• 1 tbsp capers
• 2-3 anchovy fillets
• 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
• 3 cornichons
• Healthy splash of red-wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• Black pepper

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from guardian.co.uk

Preparation

Step 1

For the salsa verde, chop the herbs, capers, cornichons and anchovy very small. Put them in a bowl and stir in the mustard, garlic, vinegar and some pepper. Then coat it all with the olive oil.

Gently heat one and a half tablespoons of olive oil in a thick-bottomed wide saucepan, then tip in the celery and carrots. Soften, covered, for about five minutes (don't let them brown), stirring occasionally, then remove the lid and add the garlic. Keep stirring, turn the heat up and, after a minute, add the lentils. Another minute later, add the wine and bay leaves.

Reduce the wine by half, then add the stock. Once boiling, turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Then let the lentils finish cooking with the lid off for about another 15 mins. When the lentils are half way there, season the steak with salt and pepper (no need to oil it). Just place on to a hot griddle or under the grill for about three minutes each side on the griddle, or five per side if grilled, plus a five-minute rest. Once the lentils are done (they should retain a bit of bite), finish with salt, pepper, the rest of the olive oil and a pinch of sugar.