I have been a bit slow in posting recipes lately. For anyone checking this blog every so often (I hope someone is!), I have a lot that I intend on posting (there is slow cooked lamb in the oven as I type). Mark and I just bought a house and preparing the house to move in, and also preparing for the move itself, means I have a lot less time for cooking. But very soon I should not only have a new house, but a new kitchen with a huge oven and cook top that will let me experiment for hours!
As for this recipe, I generally like to have steak for dinner at least once a week, but I don't like to always serve it the same way. On this occasion I also felt like polenta - it is so creamy and also easy to make. And roast tomatoes are the perfect side dish.
It is always best to bring steak to room temperature before cooking. This ensures that it cooks more evenly. I like to take the opportunity to marinate my steak while bringing it to room temperature. Often I use soy sauce, red wine vinegar and Worcheshire sauce to marinate the steak, but this time decided to do something different and used lemon, thyme and garlic instead.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
2 tomatoes cut in half
Drizzle olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
2 steaks
1/2 bunch thyme
2 cloves garlic
1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cop polenta
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter
Drizzle olive oil
Steamed green beans to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the tomatoes cut side up in a baking dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 40 minutes.
Combine the steak, thyme and garlic in a thick plastic bag. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bag, followed by the lemon skin. Add the olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Set aside for at least half an hour.
To make the polenta, heat the milk in a medium saucepan until boiling. Add the polenta in a thin, slow stream and whisk until the mixture has thickened and the polenta starts to pull away from the sides of the pan (check the packet instructions). I found this took about 10 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the heat and add the thyme, parmesan, butter, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Before serving, cook the steak to your liking and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with polenta, roast tomatoes and steamed green beans. I drizzled some of the roasting juices from the tomatoes over the beans for extra flavour.
