We don't need a special occasion in this house to have steak night! At one point, I went through a real carnivorous craving stage and we had them at least once a week, lol. We don't have steak quite as often now - but it is always GOOOOD when we do... and last night was one of those days!
So, like I said... no special occasion yesterday - we just both felt for some red meat. Normally, (and as per the header post of this blog) the general "go to" steak selection will be a rump or sirloin - anything with a nice fat rind on it. I am a fat loving gal! However, yesterday we opted to change it up a little, so we grabbed ourselves a less than little, matured fillet off the shelves.
As you can see - not exactly a tiny cut of meat... but there is enough left over to have it for dinner again tonight. In most instances, I will cook steak on the griddle - mostly for convenience reasons and also because you can cook it temperature perfect, but yesterday we opted to do it on the weber kettle braai.
I prepare all sorts of steak rubs, but if I am honest my absolute favourite is without question a rosemary and black pepper rub - heavy on the black pepper! I had a fillet steak at some fancy shmancy restaurant many years back and admittedly, at that age and stage of my life I actually wasn't a very big fan of black peppercorn... nonetheless, the steak landed in front of me, completely rolled and covered in black pepper - AND I LOVED EVERY SINGLE BITE! I was forever converted! As the years rolled on and I began cooking and experimenting with foods more - I tested it out one evening with rosemary added to the equation and it was even better!!!!
Steak has got to be one of the easiest (and quickest) things to cook on the planet - especially when you are a blood gravy, red and rare lover like I am! A couple of minutes is all you need really. Fillet of this size is also quite a fun thing to do if you are having a dinner party in the summertime - reason being, it makes for good socialising and spices an otherwise ordinary evening up!
If you cook the tenderloin rare over the coals, remove it and slice it up into nice thick medallions... then those who like theirs rare can just hang on for a minute or two - and others who prefer it medium or well etc. can take their medallion slices back to the grill and give them an extra few minutes until they are happy. This way you also know everyone will be happy with how their steak was done at the end of the day. Thankfully under this roof, we are all rare lovers - including my son... so it makes for easy prep.