This chef’s salad, from Chris Howard at Patrick’s Restaurant and Bar, is the perfect dish for late summer and early autumn. It combines summer freshness with proper comfort food and is one of the Ashley Cross restaurant’s best sellers, even with people who say they “don’t like salads!”

Chef Salad

Serves 2

For the salad:

  • 2 tomatoes
  • 12oz rump steak
  • A bag of mixed salad leaves
  • 100g crumbled Stilton
  • A handful of fries

For the dressing:

  • 500ml mayonnaise
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 50ml white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 tsp English mustard
  • 1 1/2 tsp BBQ sauce
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 pint water
  • Salt and pepper

To make the dressing, blitz all the ingredients together.

Start by frying the steak in a griddle pan until it’s medium-rare (or you could barbeque it).

Allow the cooked steak to rest for two minutes, before slicing it into bite-sized strips.

Cut the tomatoes into eight wedges and place in a circle around a large salad bowl.

Coat the leaves in the dressing Place half the fries in the bottom of the bowl.

Place half the salad on top of the fries Place the stilton and sliced steak on top of salad.

Layer in this way until the bowl is full Finish with a drizzle of dressing over the top.