CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.

THIS PORTUGESE dish is called Batatas à Murro, meaning ‘punched potatoes’.

It is a beautifully crisp skinned potato covered with caramelised onions.

But do not worry, there is no need to train to prepare this dish as we will use a fork to crush the potato instead of punching its lights out!

I’ve used this potato dish as a side but to be honest I would forgive you if you just cooked a whole plateful of these beautifully crispy and buttery mouthfuls of deliciousness and devoured them all by themselves.

The garlic, butter and onions are such a comforting combination to add with the potatoes – just perfect for these cold winter nights.

Now as a child I always remember my mum buying peppered steak from our local butcher.

To be honest it was a bit of a treat.

Wrapped in tin foil and cooked in the oven for a few hours (yes a few hours) made your tongue tingle with delight from the softly cooked piece of meat that was bursting with its peppery flavour.

Now I’ve used just simple quick frying steaks but obviously you can use sirloin or rump, in fact any steak that you wish.

This dish is perfect to prepare the night before, you can have your steaks marinating overnight, the potatoes pre-cooked, all ready for you when you return from a hard day at work.

If you don’t want the steak, just cook up a batch of the Batatas à Murro for a perfect vegetarian dish.

Word of warning though, they are deliciously moorish, in fact I had to cook up extra batches for my six-year-old grandson,

Freddy who remarked how lovely they were.

A true taste of Portuguese heaven.

Peppered Steak with Batatas à Murro

Ingredients for the Batatas à Murro

New potatoes with skin on

2 large onions sliced

Drizzle of olive oil

Sprinkle of sea salt

Butter

4 cloves of garlic crushed but with skins left on.

Rocket leaves for garnish

Ingredients For the Steak marinade:

4 quick fry steaks

2tbsp of crushed Black peppercorns

1tsp of cumin powder

1tsp of coriander powder

1 garlic clove minced

1/2tsp of fresh ginger minced

Dried jalapeno flakes

1tbsp of olive oil

Method

1. Place your steaks into a resealable bag or container and add all of the marinade ingredients. Massage the mixture into each steak.

2. Leave in the fridge for at least a couple of hours or preferably overnight.

3. For the Batatas à Murro get a large saucepan and add the potatoes and fill with cold water until just covered.

4. Bring to the boil, cover and then simmer until the potatoes are soft but not breaking.

5. Drain and place them onto a baking tray.

6. Once cooled slightly crush them with a fork.

7. Add the garlic with the skins on, Drizzle with oil and a sprinkle of salt and give them a mix.

8. Place into a preheated oven at 180c until they go slightly brown and crispy.

9. In a frying pan add some butter and gently fry the onions until slightly caramelised.

10. Once the potatoes are cooked transfer them to the onions and give them a good mix.

11. Add another knob of butter and gently keep warm on a low heat while you cook your steaks.

12. Remove your steaks from the fridge and let them come to room temperature.

13 Heat a clean frying pan or griddle pan until hot and add the steaks.

14. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side until cooked.

15. Serve on a warm plate with the Batatas à Murro and a sprinkle of black ground pepper and sea salt flakes if you want.