Food for the soul, lovingly made for the special people in your life.
Whether enjoyed intimately beside a fire, or with a group around a large table on a Sunday, do so with MadFish Shiraz.
Note: You will need to start this recipe two days in advance in order to prepare the jus, and on the day two hours before in order to make the potato puree.
INGREDIENTS
4 x 180g beef fillet portions
50g Maldon salt flakes
100g chestnut mushrooms
80g pancetta – cut into lardons
8 garlic scapes
500g potatoes for mashing – we use royal blue in Australia, however ratte variety would be excellent
500g butter – cut into cubes
200g beef jus – see recipe below
1.2 litres red wine
280ml port
3 shallots
3 garlic cloves
4 sprigs of thyme
2 star anise
8 white peppercorns
250ml of beef stock
Cooking the Beef Fillets
Allow the beef fillets to come up to room temperature and heat up a heavy based frying pan. Pat salt onto the two flat surfaces of the fillets, and without adding any oil, place the beef fillets salted side down in the hot pan and leave untouched for 1 minute. Turn and cook for a further 1 minute. Repeat and cook for another 1 minute on either side. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add 100g of the butter. When the initial reaction of the butter to the heat has subsided, place back on the heat and cook on either side again for a further two times. Remove from the pan and allow rest for two minutes before serving.
Cooking the Garlic Scapes
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and blanch the garlic scapes for 3 minutes and then shock into a large bowl of heavily iced water. Then sauté the blanched garlic scapes in the pan juices of the beef until they start to colour, remove from the heat and set aside. If not in season you can swap for broccolini.
Potato Puree
Peel and dice potatoes before bringing them to a boil in a large pot of salted water. Once simmering turn the heat to low and cook gently until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. Drain and immediately pass through a potato ricer or mash by hand. Once mashed, return them to the pot over medium heat and stir the potatoes together to make a silky mixture. Slowly add the butter, stirring continuously until all of the butter has been incorporated. If the potato starts to ‘split’, simply stir in 1 tablespooon of milk and stir vigorously. Season to taste and set aside.
Red Wine Jus
Place red wine and port in a large pot and bring to a boil, add shallots, garlic, thyme, star anise and peppercorn and boil rapidly for 10-15 minutes or until reduced by one third. Pass the still hot sauce through a fine sieve and let the sauce settle for 10 minutes before passing it once more through a sieve. Heat a small pan over medium heat and add the lardons of pancetta. Cook until the fat has rendered out and they have become crispy, remove the crispy lardons and set aside but keep the fat in the pan. Add the mushrooms to the pan and sauté until golden then turn the heat to low, add the lardons back into the pan
and add the red wine sauce. Bring to a boil, not to reduce, but more to emulsify the fat into the red wine sauce, then pour over the beef fillet. Place a spoon of the potato puree to the side of the beef and top the beef with the garlic scapes.
Finishing the Dish
Heat a small pan over medium heat and add the lardons of pancetta. Cook until the fat has rendered out and they have become crispy, with a slotted spoon remove the crispy lardons and set aside but keep the fat in the pan. Add the mushrooms to the pan and sauté until golden then turn the heat to low, add the lardons back into the pan and add the red wine sauce. Bring to a boil, not to reduce, but more to emulsify the fat into the red wine sauce. Once the liquid is bubbling remove from the heat and pour over the beef fillet. Place a spoon of the potato puree to the side of the beef and top the beef with the garlic scapes.
