Steak in a Blue Cheese Sauce with Buttered Spinach and Potato Fritters – 11sp

There are two elements to this dish that I’m very excited about.

The first is the Potato Fritters. When I was a young my Mam always used to make all her meals from scratch. One of her dishes included these lovely little potato fritters and, having received a mandolin for Christmas, I thought it was about time I tried them out for myself. The beauty of these thinly sliced potatoes is that, even though you are only having a small portion, you feel like you are getting loads. Plus, they hardly take any preparation. If you don’t have a mandolin (get one, they’re awesome!) just slice the potatoes very finely. I kept the skins on so that they held together nicely.

The second is the Blue Cheese Sauce. It is something that a few people have requested I make for a while now so I thought it was about time I gave it a whirl. If you like the sauce really cheesy you might want to omit to Worcestershire sauce (I like the addition of Worcestershire sauce as it takes a little of the cheeses richness away). Alternatively, if you like it really cheesy you could also increase the amount of cheese to 40g but this would make the sauce 5sp per person.

Steak in a Blue Cheese Sauce with Buttered Spinach and Potato Fritters

Serves 2 = 11sp each

3sp per person if on No Count (provided you swap the Creme Fraiche for Quark) 

Ingredients

For the Fritters – 3sp per person

100g potato, raw, finely sliced (with a mandolin if you can get a hold of one)

100g sweet potato, finely sliced

Garlic Salt and Pepper

For the Blue Cheese Sauce- 4sp per person

2 shallots, finely diced (or ¼ white onion very finely diced)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

Small box of shitake mushrooms (or mushrooms of your choice)

½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

4 tbsp very low fat crème fraiche (I use Sainsbury’s Be Good to Yourself)(Quark if on No Count)

30g blue stilton, crumbled

100ml skimmed milk

Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Other

2 x lean rump steak, raw (170g (4sp) each)

Large bag of spinach + 1 tsp half fat butter (0sp between 2)

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200c.

Begin by making the fritters. Warm a baking tray in the oven and then remove, spray with 1kal and arrange the thinly sliced potatoes and sweet potatoes in a single layer (the less they overlap the crisper they will be). Season with the garlic salt and pepper and then pop in the oven for 30-40 minutes until they are nice and crisp. When the fritters have about 20 minutes left you can get started on everything else.

Spray a large saucepan (or frying pan) with 1kal, add the shallots and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for another 2 minutes then add the Worcestershire sauce. Once this has absorbed into the mushrooms turn the heat down to medium and add the creme fraiche. Stir in and bring to a simmer. Add the blue cheese and let it melt into the creme fraiche and then start adding the milk a little at a time so the sauce loosens nicely. Once the sauce is the consistancy you like (you might not need all the milk), stir in the parsley and season to your taste. Keep sauce warm while you cook the steak.

Next take a griddle pan, heat to high and spray with 1kal. Season one side of the steak and add seasoned side down into the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes, season the top side and then flip, cooking for another 3-4 minutes on the other side (or until cooked how you like it, we like it medium rare). Remove from the pan and pop onto a plate to rest.

In the same griddle pan add half the butter and once melted throw the spinach into the pan. Let the spinach wilt for 1 minutes then add the other half of the butter.

Now you are ready to plate up.

Pop the spinach on a large plate and top with the steak. Remove the fritters from the oven and pop next to the steak and then top everything with the blue cheese sauce. I served mine with a side of green beans too which was a nice addition for 0sp.

Enjoy!