FLOWER POT KITCHEN: FILLET STEAK ENTRECOTE A LA BORDELAISE

5 Oct 2012

FILLET STEAK ENTRECOTE A LA BORDELAISE

This recipe I found in one of my dads old french cookbooks and it is a special dinner dish I do occasionally romantically for my husband. Four simple ingredients that make a fantastic rich decadent red wine sauce for your steak, this sauce is so gorgeous that I often end up tasting a bit too much during the reduction stage as I cant help myself and then because I make the sauce in advance I end up popping back into the kitchen just for another teaspoon full of wonderfulness!

Reducing the Burgundy wine, stock and bone marrow

Gorgeous red wine stock reduction sauce, with spoon for tasting a lot!

Pan seared fillet of beef with grilled goats cheese roulade and sumptuous Burgundy sauce

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

150g butter chilled diced

3 shallots fine fine diced

750ml Burgundy or Bordeaux

250ml brown stock

80g bone marrow

4 200g fillet steak

ooil & butter for pan searing

To make the sauce, this can be done a day in advance and stored in the fridge, then just brought up to temperature when needed. Melt one large tablespoon of the butter and gently fry the shallots for approx 7 minutes, don't colour. Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by two thirds, then add the stock and bone marrow, this I got from my local butcher, and reduce by half, this will give you a spoon coating consistency sauce.

The sauce is almost ready, now on a very gentle heat whisk in the rest of the butter, tasting as you go, you may not need all the butter but I always do, taste and add seasoning as needed.

Pre heat your oven 200 degrees, heat your frying pan medium hot, add the butter and ooil and then season all your steaks well, sear the steaks in the hot pan, do not be tempted to turn or move them, after 1 minutes turn the steaks over this is so that you add another level of flavour to the steaks with that lovely slightly caramelised seal, I know place the frying pan with the steaks in the oven for 5 minutes for rare steaks, if you want medium just cook on for a few more minutes, the key here is once you take your steaks out, place a cartouche of foil over the pan and let them rest for 5 minutes while you plate up any accompaniments your are serving, (I love mashed potato and half a disk of goats cheese warmed under the grill and topped on the steak), pour off the resting juices from the steaks into the red wine sauce and then serve.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.