Easy weekday dinner recipe: Côte de boeuf with twice-fried chips
Cooking and eating together is as good as it gets, says Neil Forbes as he gives us his delightful recipe for côte de boeuf
Côte de boeuf is French for beef rib. It makes the perfect sharing dish. Instead of the supermarket, why not buy your beef from your local butcher, farm shop, farmers’ market or order online from an organic farm. This dish needs all the elements to make it work: the chunky twice-fried chips dusted with good Scottish salt; watercress for the peppery hit, roasted garlic to smear over the meat as you eat; and the juicy mushrooms that are so full of flavour. A big glass of red always goes well with this dish.
Ingredients
- 500g côte de boeuf
- 1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- 2 bulbs garlic, peeled
- 1 bulb garlic, top 2cm removed
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- a few flat mushrooms, whole
- 3 large potatoes, peeled
- oil for frying the chips
- a big bunch of watercress
- good salt and pepper
- a small knob of butter
Serves: 2 Difficulty: Easy Time to cook: 30 mins
Method
Côte de boeuf with twice-fried chips, roasted garlic, mushrooms and watercress
1 Marinate the beef in the cold-pressed rapeseed oil, peeled garlic bulbs and a sprig of thyme for at least one hour.
2 Place the garlic bulb in a sheet of tin foil with some salt and a knob of butter. Scrunch up and roast for 45 minutes in a medium-hot oven.
3 Cut the potatoes into chip shapes and fry at 130C in a fryer for 7 to 10 minutes – until just cooked. Remove the chips and turn off the fryer.
4 Place a griddle pan on the hob and cook the mushrooms for 5 or 7 minutes on one side, then turn them over to cook through. Keep warm.
5 Sear the beef on an oven-proof griddle to create those criss cross patterns, then place the griddle in a moderate oven with the thyme, butter and seasoning. Roast for 7 to 10 mins for medium rare, or longer if you like it well cooked. Allow for resting before carving. Any cooking juices can be simply drizzled over the steak as you serve.
6 Turn up the fryer to 190C and submerge the chips in the hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 5 mins.
7 I like to serve this dish on one large wooden board with a few slices carved into the beef and all the other components scattered around. I suggest squeezing the roasted garlic over the beef and the mushrooms before you tuck in, it’s delicious.