summer is here! finally, glorious, hot, blue sky days have arrived, for the first time since may. my iphone tells me the happiness is due to end next week, and maybe even tomorrow, sob! but i’m all for living in the now, and have spent the last few days lying in the park, chasing ice cream vans down the street and sipping cocktails on every rooftop terrace bar i can find.

my diet has been unusually and wondrously healthy this week too, filled with oodles of fresh fruit and a complete carb-free zone. potatoes in thirty degrees? i think not.  living with a male though, means our house can’t exist solely on berries and sorbet. meat is required.

i don’t own one yet, but barbecue weather always means two things to me: my mum’s famous burgers, and this steak recipe.

thick, juicy rump steak griddled just until they are beautifully pink and marinated in lemon and thyme. this recipe is from nigella express and is my go-to when i’m in the mood to gorge on some old fashioned red meat.

i wasn’t serving mine with any carbs this week, so was extra generous with my meat portions, but if you’re doing some hand-cut chips, which go great here, you might lower the meat quantities a little. but then i’m a lover of leftovers, and greedy, so i probably wouldn’t! i love any recipe that requires the use of my herb garden, and snipped a few stalks of heavenly fragrant thyme from my backyard.

if you have a barbecue go for it, but i just whack my steaks on a griddle on the stove top to create those great char lines.

for two hungry people, i use:

1 or 2 thick rump steaks total weight 400-450g

handful of fresh thyme

2 cloves of garlic, bruised

a few good glugs of good quality extra virgin olive oil

zest and juice of half a lemon

a teaspoon of maldon salt

fresh pepper

nigella tells me (i pretend we’re chatting when i’m in the kitchen, that’s completely normal right?) that marinating the steaks after you cook them leaves them wonderfully tender, and i believe her. i don’t question nigella’s methods.

just brush your steaks lightly with a little oil so they don’t stick and griddle them for three minutes a side. a little more if you don’t like them rare, but remember they will continue to cook in the marinade afterwards.

while your steaks are on the griddle, combine your oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic (just smash them with the side of your knife, don’t even bother peeling) salt, pepper and the thyme leaves stripped form their stalks, in a wide shallow dish.

after the steaks are cooked, transfer them to the marinade and allow to sit for a few minutes a side under a foil blanket to keep warm. slice the steak diagonally in thin strips to serve.

some greens – either beans, broccolini or sugar snap peas, are fantastic with this recipe, steamed until they’re just cooked, and then dunked in the leftover marinade before serving.

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