Sirloin Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce

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I’m a guy and, like most guys, I love steak. I’m not sure why, it must be something that’s encoded in our DNA from our caveman days. There is nothing quite as exciting to a bloke as a good slab of fleshy meat, cooked to juicy perfection over a naked flame. With London’s heat wave finally at an end, I deemed it safe to venture back into the sweatbox that has been my kitchen and have a go at this Gordon Ramsay recipe for sirloin steak with green peppercorn sauce.

Now, I’ll be honest with you here, when it comes to steak I am a bit of a purest. I don’t eat it that often so that, when I do, I like to indulge in a really good piece of meat. Something well aged and cut from a decent, nicely brought-up cow. There is no way I would normally cover my steak in a sauce, green peppercorn or otherwise. Likewise, when I am eating out for steak at a pub, I’m equally wary of their own sauces. You just know that, most of the time, that grey, gloopy paste has come straight out of a jar. I insist on it served on the side and will, at best, use it to dip the odd chip in. Yes, I was approaching this Great British Pub Food recipe with a touch of skepticism…

By now you should be realizing that there was no way I would be subjecting a nice piece of 28 day, dry-aged, organic Aberdeen Angus to the torture of death by steak sauce. So, instead, I popped down to my local Tesco Express and picked up some regular, el cheapo sirloins. They certainly cost a good deal less than the steaks I would normally buy! You can see them below along with the other ingredients of black peppercorns, olive oil, shallot, garlic, dry sherry, green peppercorns in brine, double cream and English mustard.

To prepare the steaks, I first crushed up some black peppercorns with a pestle and mortar before tipping them onto a plate and spreading them out into a thin layer.

I seasoned the steaks with just salt and then pushed both sides down onto the plate to coat them evenly with the crushed peppercorns. By now my wide frying pan, which had been on the gas, was really hot – you should be able to feel the heat blasting off from the cooking surface. I added a glug of the olive oil, swirled it about the pan and then carefully placed in the steaks.

I gave them about 3 minutes on the first side before flipping them over for about the same on the other side. I like my steaks cooked medium rare, so I cooked them until the meat was beginning to feel slightly springy to the touch.

Once they were done, I transferred the sirloins to a plate and covered them loosely in foil to keep warm while I quickly made the sauce. I started this by adding the finely chopped shallot and crushed garlic to the same frying pan I had used for the steaks. These were cooked for a few minutes, until the shallots had started to soften, before I poured in a splash of dry sherry.

As the sherry bubbled away, I scraped the bottom of the pan to fetch off the brown sediment that was left over from frying the steaks. After about half a minute more, I stirred in the cream, mustard and green peppercorns (which I had previously rinsed and drained). A little Gordon Ramsay chef’s trick next – I took the plate that the steaks had been resting on and drained in the released juices. Yum, steak juice equals flavour – a handy tip I certainly wouldn’t of thought of myself.

I let the sauce simmer away for a few more minutes until it had reduced to a nice consistency – it should lightly coat the back of a spoon.

After a final adjustment for seasoning, I placed a steak on each plate and spooned over the sauce, which by now was smelling delicious. You can see the final dish below, served with a simple cabbage and spring onion mash.

The sauce was, I have to admit it, pretty damn good. Rich and creamy yet with lots and lots of punch from the pepper and mustard. It was miles away from the tasteless wallpaper paste I have been served in the past. The el cheapo steaks themselves weren’t that good, but crusted in peppercorns and served with the sauce they really didn’t need to be. Maybe with my impending return to the cash strapped life of a student for a year, I’ve discovered the way to eat my steaks on a budget. To be honest, I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry!