In our house, steak and chips is an irresistible treat and the ultimate in “cheery-uppy” dinners after a hard day at work.  When Dave came home after a thoroughly rubbish day I immediately abandoned my plans for a virtuous (yet delicious!) stir-fry and pulled a couple of beautifully marbled rib-eye steaks out of the fridge.

This version of steak and chips is a bit non-traditional but it is so good and it also fits in beautifully with the South Beach lifestyle.  I think I love sweet potato wedges more than “real chips” at the moment, so I totally didn’t feel deprived by having these oven-baked beauties.  The chimichurri sauce was a real revelation to me as I’d never had it before; I was blown away by its zingy flavour and it felt so much better than having a creamy sauce smothering the flavour of the steak.  I’ll be trying it as a marinade and also as a salad dressing in the future.  Tres yummy!

Rib-eye Steak with Chimichurri

Serves 2
Adapted from “Fabulous Food” by Sophie Mitchell

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 rib-eye steaks
• salt and pepper

For the Chimichurri dressing

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red chilli, deseeded
• 1 fat clove of garlic
• a small handful of fresh flatleaf parsley
• a small handful of fresh coriander
• juice of a lime
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C (180 fan oven). Wash and cut sweet potato into wedges or chunky chips.  Toss with the oil and salt & pepper; tip onto a baking sheet.  Bake for up to 40 minutes, turning occasionally.  This may take less time, depending on how thick you cut your chips.

Meanwhile make the dressing. Finely chop the chilli,garlic and herbs.  Mix with the lime juice and olive oil.  Season and set aside for the flavours to meld.

Heat a non-stick griddle pan until very hot. Season the steaks and griddle for 3 minutes on each side for rare, 4 minutes for medium. Remove from the heat and rest for 5 minutes before plating up with the sweet potato chips and dolloping the chimichurri sauce over each steak.