Cajun style Steak and Chips
Sorry it's late - did this last week but wanted to type it up on my pc rather than the phone as I knew it would be long! I've stuck some photos on my profile again.
~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
Probably took about 40 minutes for the chips to cook through properly. The steak and salsa were done much more quickly though, although I did hold off from doing the steak until the chips were almost ready as I didn't want to be left with the steak sitting around going cold while the chips needed more cooking.
I flipped the steak in a small frying pan with a little knob of butter rather than grilled it; my grill's not working very well and it's a major job to clean after something like this so it was easier to do it as I normally do. I did however use the timings for the steak to do on each side, rather than my normal guessing that it looks about right, and it did work very well for my bit of rump steak.
~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
This one was just for two people so dh and I had it, plus dc are not keen on spicy food.
It was OK - I left some of the chips plain for me as I don't like hot spicy things typically although dh does. He really enjoyed the chips to start with - but after a few said that there was a strong black pepper taste that took over and wiped out all the other tastes.
Dh was also a bit bemused by the fruit (he did ask if there was custard coming too or if we were having main and pudding together to save on washing up :) ) however once he'd had it he did volunteer that he was surprised quite how well it went with together, the lime and mango helping to take away the pepper kick from the chips. He's always thought that I'm funny for having steak and fruit together before which I often do if I'm being lazy in the mood for it. We ended up having mango, pear and red plum salsa as we couldn't get peaches.
I didn't like the chips - they weren't fluffy particularly on the inside, they were much greasier than they would normally be if I was making potato wedges (par cook first and then put into hot oil). And they just took so long to cook! And the steak cooked nicely, tasted good, plus I like fruit with steak so that was ok - but thought the lime was a little overpowering (maybe because I wasn't having the spicy chips so didn't need it as much?)
~ Will you be cooking it again?
Probably not in this form. DH liked the chips but I would go back to using paprika and garlic rather than the cajun spice mix. He would also be happy to have the fruit with it again which was a surprise as he's never really fancied it before. I'll also probably be better at timing steaks as I cook them to get a more reliable guide to how well done they are.
~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
The recipe was misleading - the ingredients for the salsa and salad weren't listed in the ingredients list at the top - pure fluke that I happened to read down and spot they were needed before going shopping, would have been mad if I'd missed them and then had to go back out again.
I needed to do an extra potato's worth of chips for dh - one large potato wouldn't have been enough for him.
The chips took a long time (40 mins) again to cook. I've done them subsequently and par cooked them in the microwave to speed them up, they were much faster to cook and nicer too. They are also better if put into hot fat rather than tossed in cold oil.
In fact, trying to spread the chips out then putting the spice and oil on whilst on the baking tray was tricky - much easier to par cook in the microwave for a few minutes then toss the spice mix in, then pop onto the baking tray that has the hot oil on and then mixing them carefully.
It would have been good to have more guidance on the type of potato - even a floury/non floury comment would have helped.
Steaks - I'm guessing the timings in the instructions would depend on how thick your steak was? It would have been good to have said the steaks would have improved for resting for a couple of minutes before eating.
Two more general questions -
~ Since taking part in this activity have you found anything surprising about potatoes that you were unaware of before?
Not yet...
~ Any other general comments about potatoes?
Only my question regarding how green do potatoes have to be before they are not safe to eat from last month - is a tinge of green alright or should I throw the potato away? Or is it ok just to cut the green areas off?