How to cook a tender steak

How to cook steak? The secret to a good steak is more to do with the resting of the meat than cooking. Resting, will keep the juices inside the meat allowing it to relax and the steak will be more tender as a result. 

For this 170g piece of fillet steak, we cooked each side for about 2 minutes then placed in the oven for 4 minutes (medium rare). Then we let the meat rest for 5 minutes, covered with foil, briefly returning it to the frying pan and flash frying before serving. The juices were added to the sauce for more flavour.

Here's the recipe for the sauce. You can swap the peppercorns for sliced mushrooms if you prefer. If you do this, add them to the pan along with the shallots.

Peppercorn sauce

Ingredients



2 finely diced shallots


1 clove garlic (chopped)


2 teaspoons 

Worcestershire sauce


2 tablespoons of Brandy 


90ml of beef stock (or half a stock cube)


fresh double cream


1 teaspoon peppercorns 


1 teaspoon Dijon mustard


salt/pepper 
*


Lightly fry the shallots until soft and stir in the garlic.
 

Add the Worcestershire sauce, Brandy, stock and mustard.


Simmer for around 20 minutes - to reduce it to about a third.


Sieve out the onions and garlic.


Season with salt and pepper - taste the sauce first as the Worcestershire sauce/stock can be salty.

Add peppercorns.

Turn off the heat.

Stir in the cream - we used around 3 tablespoons. 

*

Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful weight loss story here. Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

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Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

STEAK & CHASSEUR SAUCE

Chasseur sauce is easy to rustle up, and it's made without cream so all the flavour of the mushrooms comes through. We've come up with a version using less butter than the classic recipe. See our tip about how to prevent the sauce splitting.
Instead of chips you could pan fry potatoes in a small amount of oil/butter, as we did here. Chasseur sauce will go well with chicken too. Use the same recipe to cook chicken legs in the sauce.
We're off out for a walk. It's rained virtually non-stop here so while the sun is shining we'll be heading for Blaise Castle.
Sauces really bring a dish alive, so why not have a go at making this one. The whole dish is around 650 calories and very filling. Here's how we made the chasseur sauce.

Steak and mushroom

We enjoyed a STEAK AND MUSHROOM dinner last night. The steak was marinated for a couple of hours beforehand. The mushrooms were cooked in the oven, resulting in a wonderful crunchy texture.
You might think this plateful of food is laden with calories? Brown food often gives that impression, yet this meal isn't quite as bad as you may think (see below).
Our philosophy is to eat whatever you want, and our varied diet means we eat really well. Conventional diets generally rely on the TYPE of food eaten for success. Yet we've found there is no need to eat 'special' or 'diet' food to achieve a great weight loss. Take a look at our weight loss system, it's simple to use and we've shown just how much weight you can lose (and keep off). Make your New Year a great one, by enjoying everything you eat.
Here's our steak recipe and the methods used:

Steak, egg & potato wedges

Colourful steak, egg & potato wedges was our way of relaxing after almost a week away. We decided to share a steak with some oven baked wedges, fried egg and salad.
Weight loss doesn't have to mean giving up your favourite food.
We've lost lots of weight eating all types of food but generally avoiding processed food, especially low-fat processed food. Why not just enjoy fresh, honest food?
After our short break, we found our weight was the same before and after. We no longer think a holiday is an excuse to eat and drink everything in sight. Instead, we've learned to eat and drink whatever we fancy every day.
Our meal tonight was possibly around 650 calories, but it was very filling and a nice way to end some fabulous days away.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

We like to post our main meals to give you an idea of just how far calories can go! It's up to you what you eat.

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can have the food and drink you love while losing weight. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

Ribeye steak

RIBEYE STEAK is very flavoursome and can also be very tender. Don't be put off by the fat you can see in the steak either. One of our steaks had more fat (marbling) running through it, and it was the most tender of the two.
There is no sauce with this meal, because the flavour of the steak itself is something to savour.
Sweetcorn is in season at the moment, and it is very sweet and crispy. The cheesy mushrooms were cooked in the frying pan, but you can cook them on the BBQ too.
Put some colour onto your plate - eat great food and lose weight.

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go! I'm currently going through the photographs and replacing them with more website friendly versions which will allow the blog to load quickly. 

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating all of your favourite food and drink. Put hunger to rest.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

Steak and onion rings

It's been a while since we ate STEAK and CHIPS. A couple of huge home cooked onion rings replaced half the portion of our mighty chips. The hot balsamic tomatoes were deliciously sweet and sticky.
We like to eat a balance of foods - and if you take a look through our recipes/diary, you'll notice we eat everything. Our weight management system does not dictate WHAT you should eat. You get to choose your own food. Hopefully, in the end, you'll learn enough about the food you eat, to make simple lifestyle choices that will help you to lose and maintain weight loss forever. Interestingly, according to some weight loss theories, you tend to eat more the more varied your diet and therefore gain weight. However, we've found the opposite to be true. Why?

DAUPHINOISE POTATOES with steak

Dauphinoise potatoes ... if you are hosting a party - here's a great recipe idea. I've wanted to make this creamy potato dish for a while, but when I calculated the calories I began to wonder if we could still have them

STEAK night

We haven't lost weight by following a restrictive diet. We follow our own unique method, which supports the idea of 'calories in - calories out', but we've added our own twist.
Saturday night was beef steak with chasseur sauce. Simple. Delicious. Classic. Calories - well we didn't really count, but we know they are roughly within our calorie allowance for the weekend (see our method). As we have a FULL calorie allowance today, this meal is allowed. As you can see, not a diet meal in sight.
The potatoes were devine - cooked in oil and a smidge of garlic in the frying pan. We have the recipe for the absolutely delicious chasseur sauce here on the blog. The steak is as we like it - resting the meat is probably the most important lesson to learn (as the juices return to the meat and do not run over the plate). Carrots and broad beans... that's it. In a restaurant you would pay a price for something as delicious. We washed it down with a very good glass of red wine... house wine here is very good value for money too.
See how eating this way has been successful for our weight loss on our  ABOUT US page. Calories DO COUNT and seeing is believing!!
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

CHASSEUR SAUCE with steak and chips

We were experimenting with a new way of cooking the steak. Alas, it was a bit overcooked because we took our eye off the ball. When we've perfected the technique we will post it. Luckily there was our fabulous chasseur sauce to make things better.
Rump steak with chasseur sauce and a mound of chips. We cooked our chips in the oven and saved on the calories. The chasseur sauce which will also go well with chicken, was simply mushrooms cooked in white wine and beef stock, with some chopped shallots, tarragon and parsley. The flavour was intense and fragrant - and I preferred this to a sauce with cream. We added just a small amount of butter to our sauce (while many recipes out there call for lots of butter). At around 650 calories this was a really filling dinner.
We managed a stroll and we have been keeping some records relating to exercise and weight loss. It's all very interesting, and we'll post that up at the appropriate time.

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

CHASSEUR SAUCE with steak and filo

Here's our sirloin steak with chasseur sauce. As delicious as it was last time. We made filo wrapped potato and onions which took a bit of time to make. If I didn't have time I would have made our own oven chips.
The potato was baked in stock/milk with a little garlic (like a lyonnaise potato but with milk rather than cream). We sliced some potatoes and layered with garlic and very thinly sliced onions in a small oven proof dish then poured over a mixture of stock and milk. We baked for one hour (which we thought was too long - so try cooking for around 30 to 40 minutes until potato is soft). The end result will be based upon the potato used - if it's floury, then it will require less cooking time. Let the mixture cool then place on one sheet of filo pastry (brushed with melted butter) and roll into a sausage shaped parcel. Brush the finished parcel with butter and place on a baking sheet - until ready to go into the oven. We cooked the parcel for 20 minutes.
The chasseur sauce was easy - simply mushrooms cooked in white wine and beef stock, with some chopped shallots, tarragon and parsley. The flavour was intense and fragrant - and I preferred this to a sauce with cream. We added just a small amount of butter to our sauce just before serving (while many recipes out there call for lots of butter).

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Beef teriyaki

BEEF TERIYAKI

We marinated a sirloin steak in a teriyaki sauce overnight. The sauce contained: equal portions of MIRIN, Sake, soy sauce and sugar. We used 2 tablespoons of each.
The sirloin steak (together with the sauce) was fried according to our taste - then the steak was removed and rested. During the cooking time, the sauce reduced and caramelised nicely.

RICE

We cooked some basmati rice earlier on in the day then left it to cool. The cold rice was cooked in oil (we used groundnut) together with one beaten egg and peas. This was absolutely delicious and so very delicate in flavour. We are certainly going to eat this again - perhaps adding a few fried onions and mushrooms maybe.

SAUCE

The side dish was pak choi cooked briefly.The sauce for the pak choi was the same as we used for the steak (uncooked).

Each steak was around 175g (approx 260 calories). The fried rice amounted to approx 250 calories each - no more than 300 calories, so we estimate the whole meal to have been somewhere around 550 to 600 calories.
NOTE: We can understand why teriyaki salmon is popular now, and plan to make this next time. We also think the sauce will could work with a slow cooked piece of meat, so we might experiment with that another day.
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved over 6.5 stone weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR IDEA

Read how we put 'our idea' to the test  -  Our Experiment

We keep mentioning CALORIES - see why!

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Chasseur sauce, steak and chips

Steak with chasseur sauce and a mound of chips. We cooked our chips in the oven and saved on the calories. The steak was perfectly cooked and the chasseur sauce was simply mushrooms cooked in white wine and beef stock, with some chopped shallots, tarragon and parsley. The flavour was intense and fragrant - and I preferred this to a sauce with cream. We added just a small amount of butter to our sauce (while many recipes out there call for lots of butter). A watercress and parmesan salad was all that was needed to make the dish more colourful.
The fillet steak weighed 160g and is around 260 calories. We would estimate this meal at somewhere around 600 calories - certainly no more than 700 calories.
Now I'm looking forward to the Gordon Ramsey 'Pineapple and chilli soup with fromage frais foam'. A bit of a mean feat, but I'm sure it will taste fantastic.

Why not search our blog for other meals and their calorie count. Just type in the number of calories and the meals will be listed. Or type in an ingredient, and the recipes will come up.

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

We keep mentioning CALORIES - see why!

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Time poor - steak and chips

The last few days have been hectic. However, I've managed to steer my way through what's on offer in the high street. I've kept to my 'good day' allowance (that's 1500 calories for anyone who is new here). My lunches have been supermarket sandwiches and my main meal has been anything I fancy around 600 calories.
Tonight is a full calories allowance for me - that's 2000 calories - and we had a small steak (150g) with chips (frozen) and a watercress salad with parmesan and couscous.
As it's FRIDAY we are not strictly counting the calories - but we've eaten a meal that stops us booking a takeaway curry!

If you would like to know more about how we achieved our fabulous weight loss see OUR IDEA

Read how we put our idea to the test  -  Our Experiment

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

BLACKBERRY FILLET STEAK

We estimate this dish to be around 700-800 calories.  Each fillet steak weighed 200g (310 cals) and the 150g baby roasted potatoes around 200 cals at most.  We roast ours in olive oil.  A selection of vegetables and the sauce will account for the rest of the calories, and we have allowed a generous 200-300 cals for those.

The leftover blackberries from breakfast were so sweet that we decided to make this into a sauce to go with our steak.  Take a glass of red wine (this is for 2 servings), a shot of port and put this in a small saucepan.  Add blackberries to the pan - we used 10.  We saved some for decoration, but to be honest, we found the flavour of the additional whole blackberries overpowering because the blackberry sauce on its own was enough! Showing off has its consequences.  Dice 2 small shallots, don't fry, just throw in with the wine.  Simmer this for half an hour or so.  Strain through a sieve, pushing down to get the blackberries through.  Season to taste. Reduce further until fairly sticky and set aside until ready to serve.  Only when ready to serve, add a small knob of butter and mix through - otherwise the sauce will split.

For party goers - we pre cooked the veg, stopping the cooking process a couple of minutes short.  (The carrots were cooked in orange juice).  The potatoes were par-boiled and coated in olive oil, and go into the oven for a good 30 minutes to roast.  We have even left the potatoes hanging around until ready to start the cooking process on other occasions.  The timings are very easy because all we are doing is warming everything back up.  The mushrooms and steak are really the only thing left to cook from scratch.  So if you have guests coming round, all the prep is virtually done; leaving you to mingle longer and produce the rabbit out of the hat!


Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Steak & chips

Our meal was fantastic. We cooked our own oven chips too.  Simply boil the chipped potatoes for a few minutes, drain, then coat in olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  The maris piper potato was delicious and although they took a while to cook through, they were worth the wait.

For the mushroom sauce, we soaked a small bowlful of dried mushrooms for a few hours, then used the liquid to make the sauce.  We added some mustard, brandy, salt/pepper and a little beef stock and simmered the mixture and added some sliced fresh mushrooms.

The carrots were cooked in orange juice & zest.  They took on the flavour of the oranges and were sweet and delicious too.

The calories in this meal would probably add up to around 700-800.  We eat more at the weekends in general,  and tend not to be too strict about our calorie intake.  We've been following our "formula" for weight loss for just over a year now, and have found this casual approach is more natural and sustainable.  The weight took a long time to pile on, so if it takes us a couple of years to get rid of the excess - while eating this sort of food - then that's what we'll do.  I have a sneaky feeling that we might get a nice drop in weight at our next weigh in.