Buttered Ribeye with Pesto Pasta

Pauline is an extreme beef lover, so apart from the mirepoix beef stew, I came up with another relatively simple beef dish to appease her.

I personally prefer to make fresh pesto instead of using pre-made ones. In fact, making pesto is quite simple. In a blender, blitz a bunch of chopped basil leaves, pine nuts (or almonds if you have trouble getting pine nuts) and sunflower seeds and add enough olive oil as you blitz to make it a smooth sauce like texture. Set aside.

Cook some pasta of your choice.

For the beef, I prefer ribeye for this dish as it has enough fat and texture if cooked perfectly. Season it on both sides. In a pan, add olive oil, a clove of garlic and 2 sprigs of thyme.

Place the beef in the pan once it has been heated up sufficiently and let it cook for about 2 and half mins on one side (how long depends on the thickness of the beef) then turn over.

Add a knob of butter and base the beef continuously for another 2 and half mins or until the beef is about medium. Usually I will test the wellness of the meat by using a folk to gently poke the meat. When its rare, its harder to poke through and it feels hard to get to the center of the meat, and if its well done or over cooked, it feels tough all the way in to the meat. So medium is about half way in-between.

Once done, set aside for about 10 mins. Then use your sharpest knife to cut the beef into thin slices. You should see a nice pink texture in the center of the meat.

Toss the pasta in the pesto evenly and plate it in the center. Place the ribeye slices on top and garnish it with some finely chopped coriander.