Steak tagliati

First of all, and I hate to do this, but I must apologise for the slightly rubbish photo. I am trying to get better at taking quick, but good, photos. So difficult at dinnertime when the light is artificial and everyone is going bananas for food and sleep! This, like all my recipes, really was dinner for us last night. And my toddler was saying "where's mine", and my baby was crying, and Adam was late, and so on... It's quite tricky to get a great picture amongst all that, but I guess it goes to show you that you can produce a delicious, stylish meal under really quite stressful conditions. And despite me admitting that the conditions were stressful, I stand by the fact that this is super easy and eminently do-able by all.

I'm not a major carnivore; I could live without meat most of the time. But occasionally I do hanker after a good steak. To get a good steak you need to go to a butcher. Normally I buy rib eye for the marbled fat, but on this occasion I fancied sirloin. Now, a good steak shouldn't be messed with too much. A smoking hot pan, 2 minutes on either side, and you're good. If the meat is good, you season it well, and you don't overcook it, you can't go too far wrong. To serve alongside a steak you must have potatoes, and you must have some greens, and a sauce (even if it's mayo). That's it really; I'm easily pleased. But it can get boring eating steak with chips and a salad can't it? This is where Steak Tagliati comes in.

The name simply refers to the Northern Italian style of serving the steak sliced and dressed (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong here). In this dish I have simply roasted, whole, some new potatoes. Then some halved tomatoes in olive oil and balsamic vinegar joined the potatoes in the oven. I flash fried a steak, and rested it in a quick dressing. Served sliced thinly on top of some peppery rocket leaves, you have yourself a very beautiful, and deceptively easy dinner for 2. You could happily get away with cooking one steak here and sharing it between 2. But my craving needed sating and I had a greedy toddler to serve too, so 2 it was. And boy did it go quickly!

To make enough for 2 adults:
1 or 2 good quality sirloin steaks (from your butcher, makes all the difference!)
1 bag of new potatoes
1 small bag of rocket
About 20 vine ripened tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

• Take your steaks out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for at least an hour. 
• Begin to roast your potatoes whole in a glug of olive oil. They'll take around 40 minutes on 190C. 
• After about 20 minutes put your tomatoes on, halved, with a glug of olive oil, and then a glug of balsamic too. Same heat. 
• Scatter your rocket on a sharing plate. Or two plates if you prefer. 
• When your tomatoes (they'll collapse and a lot of juice will come out but don't worry you can pour some juice over the end dish) and potatoes are done (test with a skewer), start to preheat your pan. 
• In a dish large enough for your steaks, mix a tablespoon of oil, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, a teaspoon of oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. This is where your meat will rest. 
• Oil your steaks, not the pan. When the pan is smoking so hot that you can't put your hand over the pan for more than a few seconds (open windows, it might get smoky!) you are ready to put your steaks on to cook. Put them in the pan and do not move them. Set a timer for 2 minutes. Turn them. 2 minutes more. 
• When the meat is finished pan frying, take it out and rest it on the pate with the dressing on. Again, for 2 minutes each side. 
• Place your potatoes and tomatoes artfully around the platter, on top of teh rocket. Slice your steak thinly and do the same with that. Spoon over the dressing and if you like some of the tomato juices too.