How To Cook Steak Diane with Rustic Tomatoes...

By now I think almost everyone knows how highly I look up to Gordon Ramsay as my inspiration in the kitchen. So wanting to cook his dishes has always been something I wanted to try although it is by no easy means... But with the magic of Youtube and his cook along sessions, it's only a matter of getting the ingredients and having the equipment to be able to cook like a 3 star chef!

(note: pictures below shot with camera from phone so quality kinda sucks... sorry ya)


All you need for an awesome meal...

I happened to come across one video him cooking a dish called Steak Diane. The clip was only one minute long and it looked pretty simple to do plus ingredients all are easy to get a hold of so I thought why not try that next time I get home. Coincidently parents went out for dinner tonight and my mom said that there was a piece of steak in the freezer with my name on it. Then I went to ask my mom if the rest of the ingredients are available at home surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly) almost everything was in stock. For what was missing, just simple substitution :).


Added some of the cut of fat for some extra flavour...

The full recipe is available here but it serves 4 so I had to portion it accordingly for 1. Of course Basically all you need is 1 beef steak (sirloin cut if possible), half an onion or shallot, 2-3 big button mushrooms (canned or fresh up to you), garlic, butter, mustard, about 50ml single cream, Worcestershire sauce, brandy and some parsley for garnish. Yeah.. I think I got everything. So let the fun begin!


Sweat em onions n shrooms...

First step is to cut the fat off the steak cos it gets tough and chewy after it gets cooked. Then flatten the meat a bit and season with salt n pepper. Then heat up a pan with normal olive oil (or normal corn oil) until it's nearly smoking before putting the steak inside. Each side should be about 2 minutes tops on the pan before taking it out to rest.


Fire was way bigger and cooler than I expected...

For the sauce, using the same pan add in the onions and mushrooms that have been chopped along with a clove of pressed garlic. Let the onions sweat a bit til it turns slightly golden then add about a knob of butter. Next step is the most fun part of the process: pour about 50ml of brandy ( I used 1 shot glass) into the pan and flambe it! Be careful when you do this to tilt the pan facing away from you and pour the brandy towards the end furthest away from you. The flame will get HUGE trust me! Oh there is a short video clip available at the bottom of my attempt! Lucky no hairs, eyebrows or even parts of the house were burnt!


After the 'show' has ended, put back the steak and cream into the mix...

Once the alcohol has evaporated i.e. when there is no more fire, add in the cream along with the steak. My mom gave me the cream which actually split so didn't look how it should which led me to add some milk into the pan. Then it looked like what i saw in the clip :D. Leave the steak inside depending on how well you want your steak to be. This you have to trail n error yourself because it varies with the heat you use as well as the thickness of your cut.


Rustic cherry tomatoes...

After that all that is left to do is plate. The recipe suggested fried potatoes with peas but deprived of both, I ended up using cherry tomatoes instead. Tossed it with some extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar (couldn't find the balsamic type), salt, pepper and a little chinese parsley.


Tried my best with the presentation, that's just olive oil...

So plate nicely and like how Gordon says: Steak Diane with Rustic Tomatoes... DONE! I think I did a pretty decent effort considering it is my first time trying this. Could've been a little more generous with the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. And I think next time I'll straight away use full cream milk instead of cream. The steak itself was just the way I liked it, with a little pink in the middle though I think I overcooked it by just a couple of minutes.


Meat was perfectly pink in the middle...

But never mind la, at least got a new dish to add to my rep sheet eh ;). Few more tries of this and I should be able to get it up to 'Presentable to others' standard :D. So next time I call for dinner, maybe can expect this la !


Somebody call 911?...

So hopefully after this, my 'saham' will naik eh ;).... oh I think I shall trademark this smiley --> (-:=3 ... Looks kinda cool eh?

Run, Fat Boy, Run...

A couple of weeks ago, PYH messaged me on MSN with this to say (may not be exact the exact words) :


PYH : Koci, before we get old and fat, lets do something challenging. Lets run a marathon.

Me : WTF, marathon meh?

PYH : Yes... KL Marathon... but just do half marathon oni la...*


That conversation went on awhile with me giving all sorts of excuses (though valid ones :P) why I wasn't too keen on it. Main reason was because I don't even own a proper pair of running shoes! And before you say 'wear futsal shoes la', please, you can't run 1km in those shoes let alone 21km.

Few days later, this topic was brought up again and he told me to buy a pair of shoes for investment (though I think he meant the running):



Ok, I have to admit, the highlighted part caught my eye especially because it also entails 'so can eat more' :). And I have to admit, I do need to lose a couple (ok maybe more) of pounds. So after consulting the masses on Facebook (by that I mean putting it up as my status) and getting positive feedbacks with some even saying they are interested in running (we'll see how many actually do :P), I was more inclined to join this half-marathon. Half only la, first time join wan me to go for full 42km meh?


If Ramsay can do it, I want to do it...

So few days back, I went with Soon, who is also joining to buy me a pair of shoes @ The Curve. Reason I went there is because they had Nike, Adidas and al-Ikhsan stores all in one place. And also because I was suppose to go for the durian buffet which failed, but that's another story altogether. After scouting around, I found out that most of the proper running shoes costs RM300 upwards ! Holy shit wtf... But after getting some medical advice from (soon to be) doctors, realised that being investing in a proper pair of shoes is crucial for the long run of my feet. So... in the end after looking at all the shops, decided to get this:


My new pair of Nike LunarGlide 2...

Cost me and upwards of RM300 but I'm sure it'll be worthwhile. The rest were either: too expensive, design not nice or too heavy. Hmmm... Hopefully it doesn't rain this evening cos I wanna test out my shoes for the first time :D. For motivation, I decided to watch the movie Run Fatboy Run again :D



Oh btw, we are thinking of running the KL Marathon on the 26th of June but of course, for us it's just the half marathon. So I have roughly 3 months to get my fitness up to appropriate levels to achieve our target of completing in 3.5 hours cos apparently, after that time, you don't get a medal for finishing. And I want some sorta recognition for running my ass of for 21km k!! Will I succeed? I hope so but one thing is for sure, to lose the pounds and to be able to eat/drink more, I'll drop dead trying... haha...

Though I haven't registered for the race, I suppose by posting this post, buying a kick ass pair of shoes, and spreading the word via Facebook, it's a little too late to turn back now eh? Great way of not quitting on myself.