Chargrilled Ribeye and Cavolo Nero

My office is near Westminster Bridge and that means on a Thursday and Friday the spectre of Borough Market is always at the back of my mind. It's easy enough to walk there (around 20 mins) but the challenge is to get there and back within a reasonable lunch break. Still, if I walk one way; time it just right and get a bus in the other direction it can be done. Just.

I'm here for a steak and after a bit of walk around gravitate to my usual choice: the Ginger Pig. The main thing I'm looking for is thickness.

The problem I have with many butchers / meat packers / steak cutters in this country? When I buy a steak I don't want it just a centimetre or two thick. Whats's the bloody good in that? There's no way to cook a thin sliver of a steak properly. You might as well give me a slice of carpaccio and tell me to whack it on the barbie.

The advantage of buying from a proper butcher is that you can ask for steaks to be cut exactly as thick as you like. And I like 'em thick.

You cannot get the most out of a steak unless it's thick enough to get a proper crust and still have the inside juicy and pink. If you're enough of a foodie geek to be reading a blog called 'Whats In My Mouth' I'm sure I don't need to tell you that.

I've been refining my perfect steak technique for a while now and will write about it in a future date. Not in the Heston Blumenthal 48 hour vacuum-packed sous-vide followed by throwing-half-away-and-getting-a-minion-to-finish-it-for-you way, but with a method that any untrained amateur cook, such as myself, can use at home.

More about that later. But for now I just wanted a chunky steak about an inch and a half thick. Ginger Pig had some nice looking Ribeye, and I got a very handsome steak, though it came to an eye watering 11 pounds.

Next a stop at one of the vegetable stalls. I saw some wonderfully dark and firm Cavolo Nero. Have never cooked it myself, but the River Cafe ladies harp on about it on their TV show, so thought it was worth a go.

Gave the steak a marinade in crushed rosemary, garlic and olive oil, then cooked it under a spanking hot grill. The Cavolo Nero I chopped, blanched and then fried off in butter with garlic. Turned out pretty good all together.