Steak with sweet potato chips and creamed chard

My girlfriend came home from work today with some chard from a colleague who'd grown too much and was distributing his excess.  Never say no to free food!

It needs using quite quickly once picked, so I decided to have it tonight with some steak from our Donald Russell pack.  Steak demands to be an indulgent meal so I decided on a creamy sauce for the chard, and sweet potato chips just for a change.

Sweet potatoes are dead easy because they don't need parboiling before they go in the oven.  You could just drizzle some oil and butter on them and whack them in, but I went for a honey glaze.  Just mix up a couple of tablespoonfuls of honey, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl, peel and chop the sweet potatoes and pour the glaze over them.  Then cook in the oven at 190C for about 45 minutes - easier than pie.

The rest is equally easy, so you can relax for the next half hour or so.  Then, chop up an onion and the chard, stalks and all, sweat it in a frying pan with butter and olive oil for five minutes, until the leaves start to wilt.

Then add about 150ml double cream and a handful of grated cheese.  Stir it up, then you can just leave it on the lowest heat while you cook your steak - we like ours rare, so it only takes a couple of minutes. 

Chard is like spinach in that it cooks down to nothing - this really is the entire five leaves from the first picture, divided between the two of us!

Taste verdict

My girlfriend had never had chard before, but she loved it.  It's a bit like spinach, but you can eat the stalks too so it has a bit more crunch.

Financial verdict

Well, steak's always going to be expensive - and it's worth splashing out on.  There's nothing more disappointing than a rubbish steak - they're supposed to be a luxury item so don't skimp.  These were pavé medallion steaks from the Donald Russell pack, so I'm not sure how much they'd cost individually. There's a massive difference between different cuts, so it's a bit difficult to give a figure.  Let's just say it was an indulgent treat - at least the chard was free!

The skinny

Sweet  Potato Chips

Prepare honey glaze of equal parts honey and olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

Peel one large sweet potato and cut into chips.

Spread the honey glaze all over.

Cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 190C, turning once.

Creamed Chard

Peel and chop an onion, and chop up five chard leaves.

Sweat them in a frying pan in butter and oil for about five minutes, until the leaves are wilting down.

Add 150ml double cream and a handful of grated cheese.  Stir everything together, then you can turn the heat down to minimum and leave it alone while you cook the steaks.

Steak

These thin-cut medallions just needed about a minute and a half on each side in a really hot griddle.