Much to the chagrin of white tablecloth restaurants, great steak is not always about the steak, it’s about the rest of the dish.
In this presentation, the steak sits on a bed of sauteed vegetables and is topped with a custom bernaise-style sauce mixed with chopped black olives.  I added a few leftover hash browns (from a sunday breakfast out), a couple of fried tomatoes and some sauteed fresh shrimp.

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsn olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
sprig of fresh thyme plus extra to garnish
6 fresh basil leaves
2 x 6oz ternderloin steaks
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/3 inch thick slices
1 italian eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 red bell pepper, skinned, halved, desseded, cut into strips
1 tomatoe, cut into quarters
2 tbsn balsamic vinegar

For Lemon Dill Olive Bernaise:
1 tbsn chopped black olives
Lemon Dill dressing,
1 tsp old style mustard
2 tbsp plain yogourt
2 tbsp English salad dressing

METHOD

Mix all the olive oil with the garlic and herbs in a dish. Add the meat and coat well with the marinade3. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate at room temperature for 4 hours.

Remove the meat, add the vegetables and the tomatoes to the oil, and marinate for a further 2 hours.

Cook the potatoes any way you wish. Frites, boiled, grilled, or reheated. Keep warm.

Heat the grill (I used an indoor grill because it was raining). Place vegetables and beef on the grill and wait till veggies are golden and lightly charred all over. Cook the beef to your liking (which should be medium rare–just saying).

Mix the olives with the other bearnaise ingredients and season to taste.

Arrange the vegetables on the plates and sprinkle the balsamic vinegar over. Arrange the beef on top of the vegetables and spoon a little sauce over each steak. Garnish with thyme and serve (with lightly oiled and grilled mushrooms and shrimp if you wish).

This and other recipes occasionally pop up in the Artichoke Hart series (available here), or the London Cartwright series (available here). Both chefs are fictional… the dishes are not.