Ribeye Steaks with Smoked Garlic Butter & Pancetta Shallot Sautéed Potatoes

I've known about Ballyshonog Farm for quite some time - they supply superb Wicklow meat to restaurants like The Loft in Arklow and their produce is simply wonderful.  They also have a farm shop in Tinahely where you can buy local produce and the star of the show, their own meat.  I called in on my way home from work to get something for dinner as the cupboards were bare (i.e. I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer the night before).  I had a good look around the meat counter before deciding on two lovely ribeye steaks.  At just €17.50 per kilo, they were remarkable value too.

The perfect Friday Night dinner

So, the steaks were sorted but what to serve with them?  After a long week in work, we usually have something really nice as a treat on Friday night so I decided to use up some cold cooked new potatoes left over from the previous night's meal, but add lots of flavour by using some great Italian pancetta and shallots.  I will also admit freely that I love garlic - even raw, once you slice it very very thinly, but if you prefer it to be a bit more discreet, mince or grate the garlic into the butter and mix well.  Chill for a few minutes before placing onto your cooked steak

Ballyshonog Farm Foods shop in Tinahely

Ribeye Steaks with Pancetta & Shallot Sautéed Potatoes

2 Ribeye Steaks (about 250g each)
Salt & Black Pepper
1 clove Smoked Garlic, sliced as thinly as possible
2 10g slices of Butter

50g Pancetta, cut into small pieces
2 large Shallots, finely sliced
300g cooked New Potatoes, quartered
1 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
Black Pepper

The raw ingredients

Take the steaks out of the fridge and allow to warm up a bit while you cook the potatoes.

Cooking the potatoes is a three part process :

Fry the pancetta in a dry pan until it's crispy, scoop it out & leave to one side.
Now fry the shallots in the pancetta fat until soft, scoop out and add to the pancetta - keep in a warm place
Finally fry the potatoes in the rapeseed oil (all the pancetta fat will have disappeared at this stage) until they're brown and crispy.  Then add back the shallots and pancetta to heat through and season with black pepper before serving.  I don't add any extra salt because of the salty pancetta, but each to their own...

If you get flustered easily, do the potatoes first and put them into a warm oven while you cook the steak.  Otherwise heat a cast iron griddle pan until it starts to almost glow with the heat, season both sides of the steaks really well with lots of pepper and a smaller amount of salt.

Slap the steaks onto the pan, turn on your extractor fan and cook for 3-4 minutes each side (for medium).  Any more and you're going to ruin beautiful meat.  Don't poke or prod them, leave them alone so they form a lovely crust.  When you've turned the steaks over, scatter the sliced garlic over the cooked top of the steak and let it warm up.

Once the steaks are ready, place them on a large sheet of tinfoil, top with the slices of butter and cover loosely.  Let them sit for at least 5 minutes to let them relax and become really juicy.

Serve with the potatoes, some salad if you're feeling very virtuous and don't forget to pour all the juices that have collected in the tinfoil back over the meat... it's the nicest quick sauce ever.

Somebody asked for a closeup shot...