featuring an easy healthy recipe by cook Adie McClelland

This month Adie uses AngusPure NZ beef to make the classic (and easy!), Steak Diane.

Steak Diane is an-oldie-but-a-goodie and the good news for live lifers is that it can be produced in about 15 minutes.

Make sure you have everything ready beforehand, because once you begin to cook it's all go until it hits the table. And, you can forget about having to do the big grocery shop for this recipe - you probably have most of the ingredients for Steak Diane already in your kitchen… that is, if you have a tasty AngusPure sirloin or rump steak handy.

AngusPure Angus beef is available from specialty meat suppliers, or deli-markets such as Moore Wilson & Nosh Food market and selected New World supermarkets

Steak Diane uses good quality tenderloin steak cooked quickly in great tasting New Zealand butter. To add excitement - and impress others with your culinary skills - it can be cooked by flaming the cooking steaks with the brandy. The secret is in the sauce, which is cooked in the same pan as the juices from the cooked steak.

Steak Diane - Serves 2 (for 4 just increase the portions)

Ingredients:
2 sirloin or rump steaks
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbs butter, plus extra tsp for the steak
2 tbs brandy or Cognac
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbs snipped chives
1 tbs finely chopped flat parsley, plus extra for garnish
1 tsp lemon juice

Pound the steaks with a rolling pin until quite flat.

Heat oil and extra 1 tsp of butter in a non-stick frypan, then cook steaks over a high heat for 1 minute on each side. Transfer steaks to two warm dinner plates and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To make the sauce, add the brandy or Cognac to the still hot pan and return to a high heat, where it will flame (so be careful and stand back from the pan!). Reduce the heat to low and quickly add the remaining butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sea salt and pepper, stirring rapidly with a wooden spoon for 1 minute, allowing the mixture to bubble and thicken. Add chives, parsley, lemon juice and any juices that have gathered from the resting steaks. Stir well, then pour bubbling sauce over the steaks and serve garnished with extra chopped parsley.

Serve with boiled spuds with a knob of butter and fresh mint, plus a healthy green leaf salad, or seasonal asparagus. At this time of year try the beautiful Jersey Benne potatoes from Oamaru. They are fantastic and, like the asparagus and all seasonal produce, a real treat when they are available.

A bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir (the closer to Otago the better) would be the perfect wine match for this meal…

Steak Diane is an old recipe is named after the Roman goddess, 'Diana the Huntress' Steak Diane was made famous by legendary chef, Julia Child, during the 1960's when flamboyant French cooking was all the rage.

To see a classic 1975 cooking show with Julia Child preparing a meal, including her Steak Diane, see this YouTube clip. It is how cooking shows used to be.

Julia Child devotees will also love the book, and soon to be released film, Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by New York blogger and author Julie Powell, who nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in just one year every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's classic ' Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. Her unexpected reward: a new life - lived with gusto, plus a film.