I think it’s fair to say that for meat lovers, there’s very little more rewarding that a decent piece of steak on the BBQ. It’s just the perfect paring, as is a nice beer, which I’m also very partial to.

I was in town a couple of weekends back and came across the Northumberland Sausage Company in the Fenwicks store, a good local company. They do all sorts but I couldn’t resist the rib of beef and so ordered  a piece one rib thick from the neck end. Enough for two, just, I figured 😉

Wouldn’t you know it but the sun shone the next day. Crazy, I know. Immediately then, the population were out en-mass soaking up the rays. If anyone has read my ‘About‘ page they will see that I don’t shy away from a BBQ opportunity and so in the blink of an eye the cover was off and the neighbours were scrambling to get their washing in as the smoke poured out. Sorry guys.

Nothing complicated here – I simply rubbed the meat with salt, black pepper, some chilli flakes and a little oil to get things going.

To accompany it, I made a quick medley of butter beans, finely chopped onion, courgette/zucchini and peppers with creme fraiche. I’m quite into beans and pulses at the moment. I’m sure there’s a French term for this kind of thing, but it eluded a Google search…

Lastly, and because I like it, I made a quick rocket and parmesan salad for a bit of peppery bite.

Serves 2, I guess…

• 1 850g/30oz peice of beef rib, bone in.
• Chili flakes, sea salt, ground black pepper and oil
• 400g/14oz butter beans cooked (see below)
• 1 small courgette or zucchini, depending on which side of the Atlantic you live on.
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 clove of garlic
• about 4 tbsp creme fraiche
• English mustard and salt to taste.
• Some chopped dill – would have been great, but I didn’t have any. Sigh.

For the rocket salad:

• 4 handfuls rocket
• Parmesan shavings
• Good drizzle of decent olive oil
• Black pepper & salt.
• Balsamic vinegar (if you want)

The butter beans can be from a can, but I had dried ones, which I’d soaked over night and boiled for about 30 minutes. Just don’t salt the pan, they’ll turn to bullets as I found out in the past…

Rub the meat with the seasonings on both sides. Get the grill on with the lid down and once the smoke starts billowing out, put the rib of beef on.

Close the lid and open a beer.

Go back in and in a heavy pan, fry the onions and garlic gently until soft and caramelised. About ten minutes.

In between, pop out to the garden and turn the beef. Have a swig of beer.

Add and fry the vegetables for a couple more minutes and stir in the beans. Combine, then add the creme fraiche – heat through. Add English mustard (about a tsp) and salt to taste. Leave in the pan whilst you finish the beef, if it’s a good heavy pan, it’ll stay warm

The beef should be done in about twenty minutes with plenty of turning if you like it rare. This is with the BBQ internal temperature at about 160°C. I used a probe though to ensure the middle of the meat was at 55ºC/130ºF. Perfect. Get it up to nearer 60ºC/140ºF if you prefer medium rare. Leave to rest in a warm oven (or on the grill with the gas turned off)

Make up the rocket salad. Slice the beef and serve it up with a decent glass of red. Or another beer….