We already had the steak and although this recipe sounded pretty tasty I have to admit I was concerned. I really thought adding so much to such a nice bit of steak might be a bit much and I really didn't want to ruin it! It also calls for blackbean sauce which I don't really like. But, you don't know until you try, so try we did.
We had a few issues with the ingredients for this one. After trips to both Tesco and Sainsbury's we had to make a couple of substitutions. Bok choi was not to be found, so we replaced it with some sweetheart cabbage and we also had to replace hibiscus teabags with jasmine ones. (Jamie does say the tea can be hibiscus, jasmine or mint). This was what our worktop looked like once everything was assembled:
Once the pans are heating the first step is to start on the steak. These are sprinkled with salt and pepper and left whilst you pound some Szechuan pepper in the pestle and mortar. A little goes into each of the bowls you will be serving and the rest goes over the steak and board with some five-spice. You then add olive oil and smear everything over the steaks.
Chilli oil, soy sauce and crushed garlic are also added to the serving bowls. This all seemed a little odd - definitely not the way I have ever made something like this before, but if that's what Jamie wants! Later on you add some spring onion as well and the bowls end up looking like this, which is actually kinda pretty if you like that kind of thing
The tea needs to brew, so the tea bags along with clementine and lime peel and some sugar are put into a jug (We have bought one of these now, which is much easier than trying to make these drinks in individual glasses!) which is then filled halfway with boiling water. The chilled part comes later!
Back to the steaks and these are now put onto the griddle (2 mins each side, which is medium rare) The timer was important here as you have to leave them whilst you do other things and remember to turn them.
Beansprouts and coriander leaf are now put into a bowl. This is then put on the table as everyone assembles their dish themselves.
The sugar snap peas are put into the saucepan along with broccoli and bok choi (or cabbage in our case). This is left until required later on.
The steaks are done (unless you like them cooked more thoroughly) and these are put onto a board which has been drizzled with olive oil. You then grate ginger, chilli and garlic over the top and squeeze over some lime juice. This looks a little something like this:
The blackbean sauce is spread around a plate and you add some lime juice and olive oil. The greens are then added, more sauce is piled on top and a little more olive oil. This is then ready to go.
Time to remove the tea bags. You add clementine juice, lime juice, ice, mint leaves and the two lime halves to the jug. Now it is chilled tea and looks rather attractive too.
The noodles are added to the pan you have just taken the greens from along with a stock cube and you go back to the serving bowls, this time adding lemon juice and honey.
The steaks are sliced and the pieces tossed to pick up all the flavours. Messy, but effective
By the time you have sliced the steak the noodles are ready, these are divided amongst the bowls with a little of the broth and it is time to eat!
The meal in its entirety looks like this:
It looks good and it smelt tasty too. But, what does it taste like?
The great thing about this, is that everyone can build their own. You each have the base of the noodles, all the extras that were added to the bowls and a little of the broth but it is up to you how much else you add. This is perfect for us as I love veggies and Hubby hates them, preferring more meat. Also he loves coriander and although I like it, I don't like too much.
My assembled meal looked like this:
I have to say this was one of the nicest noodle concoctions we have made (and we have made a few). The flavourings added to the steak reminded me of beef that you get from a Chinese, but so so so much nicer. The blackbean sauce that I had been concerned about tasted fine, because it wasn't eaten alone and added to the flavours of the broth etc.
Hubby enjoyed it too, even sampling some of the vegetables, which was a bit of a result.
The chilled hibiscus (jasmine) tea was great too. Again it tasted like a tea we have had at a Chinese restaurant and both of us had multiple servings.
A meal we will make again in it's entirety and will probably make for others too.
Oh, I suppose you want to know how long it took, being a 30 minute meal? 30 minutes exactly!
No comments:
Post a Comment