Beef steak with pepper sauce

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1 cm chips. Rinse in cold water, drain and dry them well in a cloth. Fry in vegetable oil at 160 °C, in two batches, 6 to 7 minutes each, just to cook them through without colouring. Drain and set aside.
2. Season the steaks with salt and coarsely crushed peppercorns, pressing the pepper firmly into the meat. Heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan until it starts to smoke and sear the steaks 2 minutes per side for rare, 3 minutes for medium, without moving them in the first minute. Set aside on a covered plate.
3. Lower the heat, add the chopped garlic and the butter to the pan juices and let them perfume for 30 seconds. Add the cream and let it bubble 2 to 3 minutes, scraping the base with a wooden spoon, until the sauce coats the back of the spoon.
4. Return the steaks and any juices they released to the pan and turn them in the pepper sauce for 1 minute, flipping once.
5. Raise the oil to 190 °C and fry the chips a second time, 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, season with salt and serve immediately with the steaks and the sauce.