Steak
Ribeye is always the cut I choose to cook at home, although if money was no object fillet would be my number one, and I also love T-bone. I don’t love sirloin or rump as for me they are always a little tough and unflavourful but if you love those cuts then by all means choose the steak you love the most.

The cooking times in the recipe are for a roughly 2 cm thick steak. If you have a thicker steak, the cooking times will vary. When I was at cookery school they taught us about the finger test for cooking steak and I have to say I still use this method today. This illustration explains it better than my clumsy words can. You will see chefs in restaurants constantly poking steaks to see how they feel when they are cooking them and essentially this is what they are checking for. Once you’ve cooked steaks a few times using this method you will get a feel for how the steak feels once it’s cooked to your liking.

Basting
You don’t have to baste the steak but this is just a great way for imparting some more flavour into the steak and really makes it truly delicious. But if the thought of adding butter isn’t for you, you don’t have to do this. Just flip the steak over and cook for the remaining time. Or add the aromatics to the pan with a little more olive oil and baste with the oil. I will leave that up to you.

Beans
I love cannellini beans and butter beans the most in general. Those are the two types of beans I use the most and either works really well for this recipe. I also couldn’t recommend the Bold Bean beans more highly. They are so incredibly good and you might well think that beans are beans, but honestly once you try their beans you won’t look back.

Garlicky tomatoes
These garlicky toms are one of the things I probably make the most at home. A great little speedy pasta sauce, a great thing to make to serve with some plain fish, or to top a risotto, or omelette. They are so delicious, very quick and just add a bit of interest to even the simplest of things. Highly recommend.