Waitrose and Partners
Open steak sandwiches with dark fried onions and Béarnaise mayonnaise

Open steak sandwiches with dark fried onions and Béarnaise mayonnaise

Angela Hartnett cooked this recipe by Diana Henry for Nick Grimshaw and guest David Harewood on episode 3, season 2 of Dish, the Waitrose podcast. It was served with these triple-cooked chips and paired with a whiskey sour cocktail and Elephant in the Room Pinot Noir Palatial.

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  • Serves6
  • CourseMain meal
  • Prepare15 mins
  • Cook20 mins
  • Total time35 mins
  • Plusresting

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Ingredients

  • 4 sirloin steaks (not too thin, about 200g each)
  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 6 slice/s rye bread
  • 50g watercress

For the mayonnaise

  • 1 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Egg yolk
  • ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 175ml groundnut oil
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus 6 sprigs to serve
  • 3 sprig/s tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped

Method

  1. To make the mayonnaise, mix the egg yolk and mustard in a bowl. Season. Using electric beaters, add the oil a little at a time, beating continually, only adding the next amount of oil when the previous one has been incorporated and the mixture has thickened. Do this until all the oil has been used. Add the white wine vinegar, shallot and herbs. Taste for seasoning and set aside.

  2. Take the steaks out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking and brush with oil on both sides. Meanwhile, add the rest of the oil to a large frying pan and fry the onions, first on a medium heat until soft, then on a higher one to crisp and darken them. It will take 12-15 minutes. Lift them out of the fat onto a double layer of kitchen paper. Sprinkle with a little salt. Transfer the onions to a bowl.

  3. Re-heat the pan, plus another one so you have enough room for all 4 steaks. Once the pans are really hot, season the steaks and add them. Cook over a high heat, turning every 30 seconds or so, until they have a good brown crust. Each one will take about 3 minutes in total for rare (longer if using thick steaks). Remove to a plate, cover with foil and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

  4. Spread some of the mayonnaise on each piece of bread. Remove the coarser stalks from the watercress and put sprigs on top of the bread. Slice the steaks, cutting on the diagonal. Divide the meat between the 6 slices of bread. Add some onions, but not so many that you can no longer see the pink meat. Spoon some of the mayonnaise on top, add a sprig of parsley and serve immediately.

And to drink...

Delicious with Elephant in the Room Palatial Pinot Noir, a mouth-filling, full-flavoured red. 

Nutritional

Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe

Energy

3,020kJ/ 728kcals

Fat

59g

Saturated Fat

17g

Carbohydrates

21g

Sugars

4.5g

Fibre

3.7g

Protein

25g

Salt

1.2g

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