- Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 160 ºC fan / Gas 3 and roast the Pembrokeshire new potatoes for around 15-20 minutes.
- To make the braised red onion, top and tail the onion – but don’t remove the outer skin as this holds the onion together. Cut the onion in half and place the halves flesh-side down in a frying pan with a little oil. Add a knob of butter, a sprinkling of thyme and a tablespoon of dark brown sugar and fry until a golden colour. Add the port then turn the onions over and place in a hot oven at 180ºC / 160 ºC fan / Gas 3 for 8 minutes then remove from the oven and take the outer skin off the onion and serve.
- Heat some oil in a griddle pan (or frying pan, but you won’t get those wonderful sear marks) until nice and hot and after rubbing the steak on both side with some salt, pepper and oil, add to the pan. Fry for a few minutes on both sides, but be careful not to burn them as this won’t allow the sugars to caramelize. Once the steaks are cooked to your liking, remove them from the pan and allow to rest for 5 to 6 minutes.
- Remove the stem from the mushrooms, place a few knobs of butter inside the cup along with a sprinkling of thyme, salt and pepper and a drizzle of oil. Place them cup-side up in the oven at 190ºC for around 10 minutes.
- To make the Welsh rarebit topping, make a roux by melting the butter in a medium sized pan then adding the flour and cooking for 2 to 3 minutes on a low heat. Heat the beer in a separate pan until hot, but not boiling, and add this gradually to the roux until combined and smooth (don’t add it too quickly or the sauce will go lumpy). Remove the pan from the heat and add the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and cheese, then combine thoroughly. Once the mushrooms are cooked, stuff the cup with the rarebit topping.
- To make the peppercorn sauce use a base of either some leftover gravy from a Sunday lunch, or just use beef stock. Heat the gravy or stock and add the green peppercorns, a pinch of salt and the double cream – stir well to combine.
- To make the onion rings, cut an onion into rings and soak the rings in some milk for a few minutes. Heat a deep fat fryer (or deep frying pan of oil) to around 180ºC / 160ºC fan / Gas 3. Make the batter by combining the flour, soda water, a pinch of salt and beer and mix together using a whisk until it is slightly thinner than cake mixture. Coat the onion rings in flour then into the batter, ensuring a thick coating, then drop them straight into the fryer and deep fry until golden and crispy. Remove from the fryer and season with some salt while they’re still oily and hot.
- Plate up all the ingredients and enjoy!
Matt Waldron’s Welsh Beef rib-eye steak with rarebit mushroom topping
- Prep time 30 mins
- Cook time 1 hrs
- Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 x 10oz PGI Welsh Beef rib-eye steak
- 175g plain flour
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 100ml dark beer (Felinfoel Double Dragon works well)
- 80g wholegrain mustard
- 125g grated cheese (Hafod Cheddar works well)
- 1 red onion, cut in half
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 50ml port
- 2 flat mushrooms
- 300ml leftover Sunday lunch gravy or 300ml beef stock
- ½ tsp cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp green peppercorns
- 200ml double cream
- 16 Pembrokeshire new potatoes
- A splash of milk
- 100g plain flour
- 100ml double dragon ale
- A dash of soda water
- Seasoning
- A handful of fresh thyme
- A little oil
- ½ block of butter