Some times a classic dish is the most satisfying, and the following is as classic as they come. In its simplest terms: Steak with Potatoes and Red Wine sauce. This dish takes me back to the reason that I began cooking and why I still love it today, put simply it is comfort food. But there is more to it than that, there was always the mystery of the perfect sauce, deep red and crimson full of flavour, sticky, sweet and sour all at once. The meat, superbly cooked beef, whether rump or fillet or ribeye, moist and well rested, tender and caramalised. The potatoes, golden, crisp and salty, yet at the same time fluffy and yielding. But this dish, like so many others is steeped in tradition. This is what I love the most, beginning part of a timeline of history, the tradition of the steak and its technique. All important technique. This recipe the steak was taken from what I call the centre cut rump. When the rump is cut into it natural pieces, the piece that looks most like a fillet, this is the piece Im referring to. I sous vide my steak at 63.5 degrees for around 30minutes and then iced it quickly to "set the meat". I then allowed it to come to room temperature and pan fried it for around 2 minutes per side, resting for about six to ten minutes. If you can't sous vide the just use a pan.

Pan fried Rump steak with Saute Potatoes, Mushrooms and Sauce Vin Rouge.

There are no quantities to this recipe its all about the technique.

The sauce.

The sauce was made using some home made beef stock which I reduced by two thirds until syrupy. To this I added reduced red wine at around a ratio of ten percent, strained and seasoned and finished with a splash of Vin Cotto and a knob of butter, salt and pepper. The sauce should be glossy, thick but still run on the plate.

The Potato

I peeled some red skinned potatoes and cut them into slices around one centimetre thick. I placed these in cold salted water and boiled for around 5 minutes, until they were only just cooked. These were drained and allowed to cool to room temperature. At which time I heated some gee or clarified butter in a saute pan and cooked them golden brown with some sea salt.

The Spinach and Mushroom

Pan fry some thickly sliced large portobello mushrooms in a pan with some olive oil and sea salt. When the mushrooms are cooked take them off the heat and add a knob of butter, a little garlic, black pepper and freshly chopped parsley.

The spinach was wilted in a pan with butter, salt and pepper.

The Steak: one inch thick rump cooked medium rare

Get the best steak steak you can afford and allow it to come to room temperature, this will improve and even up the cooking. Cooking meat is a difficult skill. There are two distinct stages, cooking and resting. Resting allows the meat to "relax" after the stress of cooking thus retaining the moisture and making it more tender, the rule of thumb would be to rest the meat for the same length of time that you cooked it for, in a warm place. If the outside of the meat becomes cool it can always be reheated in a hot pan or oven.

In a hot pan add a little oil, season the steak with a little flaked sea salt. Place the steak in the pan and cook until the meat is a deep brown colour, around 3 to 5 min. Remember you are in control if its burning turn it down, if its stewing turn it up. Repeat on the other side. Remove from the pan and rest for 10 minutes in a warm place. After ten minutes, heat a little oil in a pan, when just starting to move add rested steak with a small knob of butter, sea salt and pepper. Baste steak for a minute, just to warm the outside.

Plate, top with a little salad of watercress and radish, enjoy!