Great steak

NZ Woman's Weekly 1/7/2007

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Serves 4

Ingredients

1 dash	Olive oil
4	Sirloin steaks
1 to taste	Salt & freshly ground pepper

Directions

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan set over a high heat. Spray or rub the steaks with a little oil and season on both sides with salt and pepper.
Place the steaks immediately into the very hot pan, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for about 2 minutes (for medium rare) or until the steaks are medium to dark brown.
Turn the steaks over and finish by cooking for 1 to 2 minutes on the other side, or longer if you prefer your meat well cooked.
Remove steaks to a plate to rest, keeping warm under a tent of foil, for 5 minutes before serving.

Tip: Steaks should be brought to room temperature before cooking (this will take about 30 minutes) because fridge-cold meat will take longer to cook and it's harder to judge when the meat is cooked to your liking.

Tip: Don't salt the steak and leave it to sit for any length of time because salt will draw out the meat juices, making the steak tough. Always salt the steak just before cooking so this does not happen. Salting grilled or fried steak will help the meat form a nice caramelised crust while cooking.

Tip: Turn down the heat once the steaks are placed in the pan so they don't burn but caramelise nicely.

Tip: It is important to have a large frying pan because then you can cook the steaks without overcrowding the pan. If the pan is overcrowded, the steaks will stew in their juices instead of browning.

Tip: Turn the steaks as little as possible - once only is preferable - as you don't want to disturb the meat's browning process.