Seared Steak with Rocket, Parmesan and Balsamic

Ingredients

• 4 rump steaks, about 220g each, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, bashed
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 100ml balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp runny honey
• 300g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 100g wild rocket
• 60g Parmesan, shaved with a peeler
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, juice only
• ciabatta or sourdough, thickly sliced and toasted, to serve
• extra Parmesan, shaved, to serve
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle, to serve
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Method

1. Take the steaks out of the fridge a good 30 minutes before you cook — cold meat hitting a hot pan seizes and steams instead of searing. Pat them dry with kitchen paper; water means steam, and steam means no crust.
2. Pour the balsamic and honey into a small saucepan over a medium heat. Simmer for 6–8 minutes until syrupy and reduced by half — it should coat the back of a spoon and leave a clean line when you draw a finger through. Pull it off the heat; it'll thicken further as it cools.
3. Rub the steaks all over with the olive oil and season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Be bolder than feels comfortable — most of it stays on the crust, and an under-seasoned steak is the saddest steak.
4. Set a large heavy-based frying pan or griddle over a high heat until it's properly smoking, about 2 minutes. A dry, screaming-hot pan is the whole game here — this is the one place non-stick won't do, you need the surface to grip and brown.
5. Lay the steaks in the pan in a single layer with space between them — two at a time if your pan is small. Crowd the pan and the temperature crashes, the meat sweats, and you'll braise rather than sear. Add the bashed garlic and rosemary sprigs alongside the steaks (not before — toss them in with the meat so the garlic perfumes the fat without burning. Watch it: garlic in a smoking-hot pan turns bitter in under a minute, so spoon the hot fat over the steaks and tip the pan if the cloves start going past pale gold).
6. Sear for 2–3 minutes per side, basting with the rosemary-scented fat, until deeply charred outside and still pink in the centre for medium-rare (50°C internal — the temperature carries up to 55°C off the heat). Push to 3–4 minutes per side for medium.
7. Transfer the steaks to a board, tent loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes. This is non-negotiable — cut early and the juice runs onto the board instead of staying in the meat.
8. While the steaks rest, halve the cherry tomatoes into a large bowl, add the rocket, the extra virgin olive oil and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, then taste — adjust now, not at the table. The dressing should taste sharp and savoury before the Parmesan goes anywhere near it.
9. Spread the dressed rocket and tomatoes across a large serving platter. Slice the steaks thinly against the grain at a slight angle — across the muscle fibres, never along them — and lay the slices over the rocket in overlapping ribbons, pouring any resting juices over the top.
10. Scatter the shaved Parmesan across the steak, drizzle generously with the honey-balsamic reduction, finish with a final flurry of Parmesan shavings, a slick of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon over the lot. Serve straight away with the toasted ciabatta or sourdough alongside for mopping, and lemon wedges on the board.