Steak & ‘Snips with Creamed Spinach
I am an absolute fiend for a good steak. Although it’s pretty basic, it’s one of the foods that always seems like a real treat!
That being said though, depending on which cut you choose and what side dishes you have it with, it does rack up on the calorie front. Not ideal if you’re trying to lose body fat.
A typical sirloin steak with chips from a gastropub is likely around 950 calories, 55g protein, 70g carbohydrate and 50g of fat. And that’s before we’ve factored in any sauces or additional side dishes.
One option around this would be to eat a little less during the day, with the focus being on lean protein and veggies so you save some of your calorie and macronutrient ‘budget’ for your steak and chips, allowing you to have a slightly higher in calorie & fat cut of beef, such as a ribeye AND have a side order of chips.
Sometimes though, you might be a little poorer in terms of your calories and macros but still need a good hit of steak.
So if you’re in times of need, I bring to you:
Steak & ‘Snips With Creamed Spinach (poncy parsnip stack is optional)
We cut the fat, and therefore the calories down by choosing a lean cut of steak (in my case, fillet, but there are other options), and by minimising the amount of cooking fat we use. Gram for gram, parsnips don’t have fewer carbohydrates than potato, but personally I find them more filling, perhaps as they have double the fibre of potato and are higher in volume, hence their inclusion. If you prefer, you can use the same weight of potato though.
As a further bonus we also get an extra hit of protein from the creamed spinach using a special ingredient…
Quark
For those of you who’ve never heard of quark before, it’s a soft cheese that’s popular in Europe. Think of it as a much tastier, better textured alternative to cottage cheese. By the way, I dislike very few foods, but cottage cheese is one of them!
Anyway, quark has a superb macronutrient profile: is low in carbohydrate, very low in fat and very high in protein. It is also incredibly versatile, can be used in sauces, to make desserts such as doughnuts(!), cheesecakes or ‘mousses’ and in the case above, even shop bought as a sauce with it as one of the main ingredients.
The sauce is rather tasty and creamy, despite there being very little fat in it. It made a great addition to the spinach and I bet you could make some really nice tagliatelle/carbonara recipes out of it (I might try it this weekend!).
Time for the recipe:
Ingredients (serves 2)
150-200g lean cut of steak such as fillet, bavette/flank, trimmed rump or sirloin
~300g parnsips, cut into chunky chip sized pieces
1tsp + 1tbsp olive oil
1/2 a tub (100g) of the Lake District Dairy Co. Garlic & Herb Cooking Sauce
Parsley, to taste, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper
Method
1) Toss your parsnip chips in 1 tbsp olive oil, and place on a roasting dish in a preheated oven at 180°C. Cook for 40-50 minutes until browned and soft all the way through.
2) Once the parsnips have got around 15 minutes to go, heat up your griddle or frying pan over a high heat until it starts to smoke. Rub the remaining oil over your steaks to prevent them from sticking and cook for approx 2 mins/side for rare, 2:30 for medium, 3-3:30 for well done. Remove your steaks from the pan, season with salt and pepper and leave them to rest whilst you cook the spinach.
3) For the spinach, place your spinach leaves (remember to wash them if necessary, I once forget and my girlfriend complained of finding bits of grit in her spinach, so lesson learnt!) in the steak frying pan (I don’t recommend using a griddle for this bit) or clean pan and cook, stirring frequently until the leaves have wilted.
4) Add the cooking sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes until piping hot.
5) Remove your ‘snips from the oven and scatter over your chopped parsley. Serve with your steak and creamed spinach.
Calories & Macronutrients
Assuming a 150g fillet steak:
498 calories
33g carbohydrate
46g protein
21g fat
