Peppered Minute Steaks with Shoestring Sweet Potato Fries
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Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 25 mins
There’s a double dose of pepper in this dinner: a coating of coarsely ground black pepper on organic sirloin minute steaks, plus a peppery watercress dressing – all tied up with ribbons of shoestring fries.
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684 kcal
(per portion)
Ingredients you'll need
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 2 top rump minute steaks
  • 50g watercress
  • 1 lime
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 1 orange
  • 25g pine nuts
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
From your kitchen
  • 2 tbsp + 2 tsp olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
Step by step this way
  • 1.

    Heat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Chop the sweet potatoes into fine slices, leaving the skin on. Cut the slices into thin matchsticks (see our tip for making extra thin fries with a spiraliser or julienne peeler).

  • 2.

    Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Pour in 1 tbsp oil and toss together with plenty of salt and pepper. Peel and slice the onion into thin rings. Add to the bowl.

  • 3.

    Spread the onions and potatoes in a thin layer on a baking tray (the more spread out they are, the crispier they’ll be). Cook for 20-25 mins till golden and crispy, tossing with a fork every 10 mins to make sure they cook evenly.

  • 4.

    Meanwhile, tip the peppercorns into a pestle and mortar and roughly crush them, or use a small bowl and the bottom of a jam jar to crush them. Pat the steaks dry with kitchen paper. Put on a plate. Rub 1 tsp olive oil into each steak. Pat the peppercorns into both sides of the steaks.

  • 5.

    Roughly chop half the watercress and put it in a large bowl. Zest and juice the lime into the bowl. Peel and grate in the garlic. Add this too. Drizzle in 1 tbsp olive oil and whisk with salt and pepper to make a loose watercress dressing. Set aside.

  • 6.

    Pop the remaining watercress in a separate bowl. Slice the skin and white pith off the orange and slice it into segments, Add them to the bowl. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and tip in the pine nuts. Toast for 2-3 mins till golden and add to the watercress salad. Set aside.

  • 7.

    When the potatoes are 5 mins away from being cooked, put the frying pan back on a high heat for 2 mins. Add the steaks.

  • 8.

    Cook the steaks for 1 min on each side for rare, 2-3 mins on each side for more well done steaks. Remove from the pan and rest for 2 mins. Pile the shoestring potatoes on 2 serving plates. Add a steak and spoon over the dressing. Serve with the watercress salad and the mustard.

  • Tip

    Curly wurly wow
    Use a spiraliser or julienne peeler to make extra thin fries. To cook them, heat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Spread the fries out on a large baking tray, making sure they are well spread out (this will help them bake rather than steam). Bake for 15 mins, tossing the fries with a fork halfway through.

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