Date Night Steak with Potato wedges and Spicy Peas

Spending time with your loved one and balancing a relationship around working patterns can be a little bit of a challenge, I work shifts around the clock and my boyfriend does more regular Monday to Friday pattern, and often we are eating separately or very late at night, not ideal on tummies and a bit of a romance killer! When doing nights I often don't even see him for a couple of days, we pass like ships in the night, as the saying goes!

I think its vital to spend quality time together, and once a week we make sure we clear our diaries and have a 'date night', making sure we have a good film lined up to watch, get something nice in for dinner and then pull out the futon and cosy up together and chill out for a few hours just the two of us.

Ones of the perks of blogging about food is getting sent nice things in the post, and last week we had a treat for our date night - some very tender steaks from Heggies of Hereford and a packet of 'New York Steak Rub' from Bart, part of their new Smokehouse Barbeque range. My B is a committed carnivore and he was more than happy to also 'test' out the latest arrivals!

The New York Steak Rub is one of five rubs available, and their main beauty is that they are mess free thanks to their clever little cooking bags! Less time washing up, equals more time together, win! This version is 'A classic American inspired blend with mustard, garlic and pepper' according to their website and it worked really tastily with our steaks, adding the spicy mustardy heat and delicious garlicky flavours that we both love!

Alongside our steaks, I made a tray of potato wedges - a mix of white and sweet potatoes, simply tossed in rapeseed oil, salt, pepper and  few twists of my garlic and chilli grinder, then roasted in a hot oven for 45 minutes. Our oven is however ancient - yours may take less time! The spicy peas were simply boiled for a couple of minutes, drained all bar about 50ml of liquid, and mashed up with a teaspoon of horseradish and a little oil from an empty jar of marinated garlic cloves.

The rubs are designed to be used, then cooked on a barbecue, but I just cooked them in a griddle pan as where I live there is a communal bbq and a bit big just for the two of us! Make sure your kitchen is well ventilated - we have no extractor fan and the kitchen got a little smokey with the spices cooking...

Step one - take two nice steaks of your choice, place on kitchen paper ideally 24 hours before cooking and leave uncovered if possible in the fridge. This helps the meat to dry out in a good way!

Step two - open up your little spice parcel

Step three - place the steaks inside the marinade bag, sprinkle over the spice mix - note it is for four steaks - I used just over half the spice mix and drizzle in a little rapeseed or similar cooking oil

Step four - seal the marinade bag using the tie twist provided, and massage the mix onto the steaks. You can also if needed at this stage bash them a little to flatten out without getting messy :) Having moved house I had no idea where the rolling pin was but the solid wooden chopping board did a fine job! Leave them in the fridge for about 4-5 hours to infuse but remember to take them out about half an hour before cooking!

Step five - Remove the marinated steaks from their bag, and griddle or bbq to your liking. If griddling on cast iron, make sure your pan is searing hot before using, and don't turn them until they readily come away from the bars. I cooked mine for 2.30mins each side and they were medium. I don't often use sirloin, and must admit I prefer ribeye but the timing was just right for both of our tastes. Rest them in a warm place for a couple of minutes before serving.

Step Six - Make sure your peas and mashed and your wedges cooked through and serve alongisde your steaks

Sit back, relax and feast with your date!

Many thanks to Heggies and Bart