3: Steak slice with lemon and thyme (Page 40, Nigella Express)

Today I had such a sore throat and at one stage I felt a little feverish. So I'm hoping I don't get sick. I considered making soup today because it would make me feel better, but I'd already decided to make that tomorrow and I didn't want to deviate from my schedule.

My mum makes rare beef slices cooked using just lemon, pineapple and chilli and then we eat it with prawn crackers. It's a similar concept to this recipe. The steak was cooked first and then the lemon, garlic and thyme was used to cook it some more. I don't really like rare steak so I may have cooked it more medium than rare. So it did not look like it was bleeding unlike beef tataki which looks so off putting.

Nigella Express is such a good cookbook because it has lots of very pretty pictures (the most important part of any cookbook I think) and all the recipes look like they only require a handful of ingredients and this recipe took me less than 10 minutes. And it tasted just like steak so I didn't think about the fact that it was rare.

I am determined to make this again, without the cous cous. I had leftover cous cous from yesterday and I thought it would taste okay with steak but I should have made chips or fried potato to go with this instead. Nigella suggests broccoli but potatoes are the superior vegetable! So no disasters tonight, which was a relief since I'm feeling so crook I would have eaten it anyway.

Cooking time: less than 10 minutes
Taste: 3.5 stars (tasted better on it's own than with the cous cous)
Ease: 5 stars

Currently listening to "School of rock" by Jack Black