Pepper Steak

This is usually made with rump steak, but you could use Porterhouse and even fillet. The trick is to give the meat time to absorb the flavor.

If you buy your meat from a supermarket, you may have no control over the thickness of your steak. For this dish try a visit to your local butcher and ask him to cut your steaks 4cms thick, or 1.5 inches for those still living in the last century.

Now, take your steaks out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you do anything else. That will allow them to return to room temperature.

Take 2tbs of black peppercorns and crush them. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, put them in a small bowl and grind them with the end of a rolling pin. You could use a pepper mill if it grinds coarsely enough, but most do not.

Rub the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the steaks, pressing them well in with the flat of your hand, and leave the steaks at room temperature for a further 30 minutes.

You can now either grill, pan-fry or barbecue the steaks to your liking.

For example, to pan-fry use a ribbed pan or griddle, brush it generously with olive oil and fry the steaks for two minutes on each side at high heat. Turn the heat down and cook for a further three minutes each side, turning once only, if you like your steak rare.

Cook a minute or two longer per side for medium rare.

I prefer to eat this steak just as it is, but you could serve it with one of the many pepper sauces on the market, or top with small pats of garlic butter, made as follows:

Crush 2 garlic cloves into 100g of softened, not melted, butter and mash together with a fork. Combine this with 1tbs lemon juice and a little salt. Shape the butter into a roll.

Now take a piece of food-safe plastic wrap roughly four times the width of the butter and lay it flat on your work surface. Sprinkle it generously with freshly ground black pepper and roll the butter up in it. Chill in the refrigerator until firm.

To use, unwrap the roll and slice it into rounds.

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