Among the fascinating articles in the latest issue of MI6 Confidential magazine is a reproduction of culinary-themed promotional material for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. To promote the film, the marketing team gathered favourite recipes from the twelve actors playing Blofeld’s ‘Angels of Death‘ and another from James Bond himself, George Lazenby. It appears that the resulting mini-cookbook never saw the light of day – that is, until it was rediscovered and published by the editors of MI6 Confidential.

This exciting discovery is too good to ignore, and so, over the next few weeks and months, I’m going to be trying out the recipes (so watch this space to see how I get on!). I’m starting this occasional series with ‘Carpet bag steak’, George Lazenby’s contribution to the recipe collection. (Note that I’ve slightly adapted the original recipe for clarity and ease of cooking, and to allow two servings.)

Serves 2

• 2 thick rump steaks
• Approx. 12 oysters (these can be taken from 1-2 cans of smoked oysters)
• Black pepper
• Large knob of butter, melted

For the sauce

• 50ml sherry (any type of sherry can be used; I happened to have fino sherry)
• Juice from half a lemon
• 2-3 drops Worcester sauce
• 2-3 drops Tobasco sauce
• 1 tsps finely chopped parsley

Heat the grill. Carefully make a deep cut from the centre of the edge of the steak – that is, horizontally – to create a pocket. Place six or so oysters in the pocket and press the edges of the steak down to seal. (If the steak isn’t thick enough to create a pocket, then flatten out the steak with a tenderiser or rolling pin, place the oysters over one half of the steak, and fold the other half over to cover.) Repeat for the other steak.

Brush the steaks with melted butter, sprinkle black pepper over the top, and place the steaks on a grill-pan or baking tray. Pop the steaks under the grill and cook each side for 3½ minutes (rare), 5 minutes (medium) or 7½ minutes (well done). When turning the steaks over, brush the upper side with butter and sprinkle over some more pepper. Make sure the oysters stay in the steak pockets!

Once cooked to your liking, remove the steaks from the grill and allow to rest while you prepare the sauce. Put all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and place over a high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce by about a half.

Move the steaks to serving plates and spoon the sauce all over.