Griddled rump steak with watercress, hazelnut & red chilli pesto

Griddled rump steak with watercress, hazelnut & red chilli pesto

A relaxed but restaurant-quality main course for two

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 2

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 - 15 mins

plus resting

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Place the hazelnuts in a baking tray, then toast in the oven for 5-10 mins until golden (you can roast the garlic for the mash at the same time). Leave the nuts to cool a little. Put the cooled nuts, chilli, 50g of the watercress, 1½ tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic and some seasoning in a food processor, then blitz until finely chopped. The mixture shouldn't be too smooth - there should still be some texture to the nuts. Set aside.
  2. Heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Rub the steaks with a little oil, then season both sides with salt. Cook the steaks on the griddle for 2 mins on each side - this will give you medium rare (cook for 3 mins for medium or 4 mins for well done, if you prefer). Remove from the griddle, then sit on a plate for 5 mins to rest. Stir any juices from the resting steak into the pesto - they're delicious and shouldn't be wasted.
  3. To serve, divide the Roasted garlic mash (recipe, below) between 2 plates, top with a little watercress, then sit a steak across it. Top the steaks with a large tbsp of the pesto and drizzle the rest of the balsamic over.
Try

KNOW-HOW

When griddling meat and vegetables, always oil the food and not the pan. This will ensure that there is no excess oil to drip between the ridges of the griddle and burn, which will taint your food and create a lot of smoke.

ROASTED GARLIC MASH

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Place 3 large, unpeeled garlic cloves in a shallow tray. Roast for 20-30 mins until skin is yellowed and cracked. (This can be done at the same time as the hazelnuts for the pesto.) Meanwhile, boil 400g potatoes, peeled and cut, for 15-20 mins until tender. Drain and mash with 85g butter and 3 tbsp milk, then season well. Squeeze garlic flesh from skin and stir through the mash.

CHOOSING STEAK

If you buy beef that has been aged for at least 21 days, it will have greater depth of flavour and be more tender. Look for steaks with a yellow tinge to the fat. This indicates that the cattle have been grass- and not grain-fed, which gives the meat a richer taste. There should also be a good marbling of fat throughout the flesh, which will add flavour and help to keep the meat juicy during cooking.

PER SERVING

475 kcalories, protein 37g, carbohydrate 4g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 2g, sugar 4g, salt 0.24 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Katie

    24 April 2009

    Katie rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    It's extremely rare I make something from Good Food magazine I don't like, but this was most disappointing. The garlic mash and the steak were great, but the pesto.... no I didn't like it at all. I was a little concerned as I made the pesto as I didn't think it smelt nice, and unfortunately it didn't taste nice either. To be honest, the pesto ruined a beautiful steak. Perhaps I did something stupid - I'd be interested in seeing another comment on this recipe - but I shan't be making this again.

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  • Binder photo Kerry

    02 May 2009

    Kerry rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Regarding the previous comment, I'm not sure what you did wrong but we thought the pesto was really tasty, so much so that I used the leftovers to coat chicken for lunch the next day, which also work really well. Did you toast the hazelnuts? And remember to add olive oil? I thought it was a lovely combination and we'll definitely be having it again.

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  • Binder photo Becks

    06 May 2009

    Becks commented on this recipe

    The only reason I can see for your pesto tasting bad was that maybe one of your ingredients was stale. Hazelnuts can go very stale before they begin to look any different and have a really unpleasant taste when they do. There's nothing else in the recipe that would cause anything to taste horrid so that's my only suggestion.

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  • Binder photo danicquinn

    20 August 2010

    danicquinn commented on this recipe

    It was delicious and easy to make. Sorry to hear it didn't work out. I agree with Becks - stale hazelnuts have a rancid taste but don't look any different, so maybe the problem lay there.

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  • Binder photo Leann

    20 April 2011

    Leann rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I thought the pesto was fab - I used watercress, rocket and spinach for the pesto. Will be making it again this Easter for the family. Sometimes sauces can over-power a good steak, but this worked really well.

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  • Binder photo Pipimari

    04 September 2011

    Pipimari commented on this recipe

    I did the pesto with almonds and used rucula instead of watercress since that's what I had at home at the time! it turned out really good. also I placed instead of balsamic vinager only, half on the volume of balsamic vinager and the rest of balsamic glaze. I substituted the mash for oven roasted vegetables (zuchinni, red onion, yellow and red pepper) and it turned as a great less caloric side which was also great with the pesto. Just a more mediterranean version! Used as carb source some slices of black olive bread loaf. The aged beef cooked in the griddle pan was just the right cooking time for a delicious tenderness.

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  • Binder photo Pipimari

    04 September 2011

    Pipimari commented on this recipe

    I did the pesto with almonds and used rucula instead of watercress since that's what I had at home at the time! it turned out really good. also I placed instead of balsamic vinager only, half on the volume of balsamic vinager and the rest of balsamic glaze. I substituted the mash for oven roasted vegetables (zuchinni, red onion, yellow and red pepper) and it turned as a great less caloric side which was also great with the pesto. Just a more mediterranean version! Used as carb source some slices of black olive bread loaf. The aged beef cooked in the griddle pan was just the right cooking time for a delicious tenderness.

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  • Binder photo Pipimari

    04 September 2011

    Pipimari rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo EmSmith

    10 September 2011

    EmSmith rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    LOVED the flavours! The hazelnut pesto was really unusual but complimented the steak beautifully. I would say that the pesto was a little on the dry side, though, and that I would perhaps add more balsamic and/or olive oil next time around. The garlic mash was pretty tasty, too. Served it with tenderstem broccoli. Yum!

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  • Binder photo Nicola

    11 September 2012

    Nicola rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I rather liked this - I agree with the first reviewer that there was a bit of a strange smell to the pesto (I think this was just the watercress smell though), but it tasted good. Perhaps to get rid of the smell you could use less watercress and add in some herbs or rocket? My husband wasn't overly keen on the pesto, but I thought it was worth making! (i used mixed nuts rather than just hazelnuts).

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 2

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 - 15 mins

plus resting

Ingredients

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PER SERVING

475 kcalories, protein 37g, carbohydrate 4g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 2g, sugar 4g, salt 0.24 g

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