Ingredients:

FOR THE STEAK:

• Oil
• A beef steak (around 200g)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Some oregano and rosemary
• 25g Butter
• Salt to taste

FOR THE BÉCHAMEL SAUCE:

• 40g butter
• 40g flour
• 0.5l of milk
• a pinch of cumin
• salt to taste

FOR THE EGGPLANT PURÉE:

• 2 big eggplants
• olive oil
• half a small clove of garlic
• honey
• balsamic vinegar
• salt to taste

FOR THE POTATO CHIPS:

• 1 big potato
• oil
• paprika
• salt to taste

FOR THE CHILI POWDER:

• 10 chili peppers

Tools:

• Pan
• Small pot
• Thermometer
• A pair of tongs
• Fouet
• Paper towel
• Wooden spoon or heatproof spatula
• Food processor
• Fine sieve
• Oven
• Parchment paper
• Squeeze bottle
• Bowl
• A small biscuit cutter or a water bottle cap

Execution:

FOR THE STEAK:

• Place a pan on high heat and let it get very hot.
• Pat the steak with a paper towel until it’s completely dry on the outside.
• Season it well with salt and make sure it goes everywhere.
• Put enough oil to the pan to barely cover its bottom and add the steak.
• Sauté well from one side until a very brown crust starts forming then turn it.
• Wait until the other side starts getting a nice colour, then add the butter, garlic, oregano and rosemary to the pan.
• Tilt the pan and use a spoon to contiguously poor the melted aromatic butter over the rack. This is called arroser. Repeat for a couple of minutes.
• Continue doing this until the center of the steak reaches 52C.
• Remove the steak from the pan, place it in a container along with the garlic, oregano, rosemary and most of the butter, cover with aluminium foil and let rest - for at least 10 mins.

FOR THE BÉCHAMEL:

• Add a small pot over medium-low heat.
• Add the butter and when it’s melted, add the flour.
• Stir well using the fouet and cook for a couple minutes.
• Start adding the milk in doses. When the mixture thickens add the next dose. There should be 3-4 doses in total.
• When the sauce is ready add the cumin and salt to adjust it to your liking.
• Keep the sauce warm until ready to use.

FOR THE PURÉE:

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the eggplants in the oven and bake them until a fork pierces them with zero resistance (around 30-45 minutes).
• Cut them in half and use a spoon to remove all of the flesh and discard the skins. Then, cut them very finely with a knife.
• Put the eggplants in a sieve and let them strain off all their liquid. It will take around 15 minutes.
• Add the eggplants, garlic and a few touches of olive oil in a food processor and blend well for 5 minutes until the purée is very smooth.
• Adjust the consistency with adding more olive oil and the taste by adding balsamic vinegar and honey.
• Adjust the salt and store in a container.

FOR THE POTATO CHIPS:

• Put a pot with oil on medium-high heat.
• Use a peeler to peel the potato and cut thin strips of it.
• Use a very small biscuit cutter or a water bottle cap to cut out small potato disks.
• Put the potato disks in a bowl with cold water, rinse them well, then dry them using a paper towel.
• Put the potato disks in the oil and fry them until golden brown.
• Put them in a container with a paper towel and salt them.

FOR THE CHILI POWDER:

• Put the chilis in an oven set to 90C and bake until fully dehydrated (around 2 hours).
• Put the chilis in a food processor and blend well until they become a powder.

Platting:

• Transfer the purée into a squeeze bottle.
• Make a big dot with the purée in the center of the plate.
• Carve the steak as to form two rectangles and place them on top of the purée.
• Make little dots with the béchamel on the plate.
• Place the potato chips unevenly on the plate as shown in the image above.
• Poor the chili powder on one side of the plate.
• Draw a line with the béchamel sauce on the side of the plate if you’re feeling extra fancy.

Theory, tips:

• Although counter-intuitive the liquid that comes out of the baked aubergines is pure bitterness and it should be discarded. That’s why it is essential to strain the eggplants before blending them.
• For the chili powder, if you are living in a hot and dry environment you can hang the fresh chilis using twine and let them dehydrate naturally for a few days.
• To take the temperature of the meat, pierce it with the thermometer in its thickest part. In this case, place it at the center of the steak.
• The suggested order to prepare the different parts of the dish is: chili powder, purée, chips, béchamel, steak.

Acknowledgements:

• Eggplant purée technique kindly borrowed from here