This blog has had no attention from me as I’ve been eating around Europe for 3 weeks. As much as I’d like to share some ideas about the food I ate on my adventures, posting something that I’ve actually made myself just seems more useful. We are finally back home and facing the dreaded, every day, week night supper! Tonight I made such a basic meal- in its purest form, my kids love it. But by adding a little something special, and using really quality ingredients, the adults with a more discerning palette love it too.

For the meat marinade:

1 quarter cup Worcester shire sauce

1 quarter cup white wine

1 small lemon, squeezed

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 table spoon Mrs. Balls original recipe chutney

A dash of olive oil

Salt to taste

Meat seasoning

Other:

A whole beef fillet

Potatoes, milk, butter, Parmesan cheese

Olive oil and salt

Soft skinned gems

More salt!

How to do it:

Slice your whole fillet into portions and season and marinade them in all the ingredients above, mixed together. You can leave this to absorb the flavour for a couple of hours.

In the meantime, prepare some mashed potato by boiling the potatoes and then adding butter, milk and salt. Steam a few soft-skinned, new gem squash and then fry the steaks in a heavy based skillet until they are done to your liking. For me, the flavour rests in the cooking so don’t over-cook the meat. Now plate everything, so that you have beef, mashed potato and gems on the plate. Add a dollop of butter, check the seasoning and drizzle some pan juices over the meat. Add Parmesan shavings to the potato and serve immediately. This really is a delicious meal – quick to prepare!