My mouth is salivating even looking at this photo. The flavours of the spices in the carrot puree really work with the spinach and steak. I don’t really like carrots but these spices really bring out their sweet flavour. The nutmeg in the spinach also is a winner as it brings out the earthiness flavour.
My wife and I love eating fillet steak every once in a while. I don't order it out in any restaurant because I am always disappointed. I either get a poor cut or they don’t rest the meat long enough and there is blood all over the plate when I cut into it.
I bought a book called The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit and it’s a great reference for combining ingredients with other ingredients. I would really recommend it for any novice cook.
My wife and I love eating fillet steak every once in a while. I don't order it out in any restaurant because I am always disappointed. I either get a poor cut or they don’t rest the meat long enough and there is blood all over the plate when I cut into it.
I bought a book called The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit and it’s a great reference for combining ingredients with other ingredients. I would really recommend it for any novice cook.
This dish is relative hard to complete as there are so many elements, so I have tried to explain how restaurants would do it. “Mise en Place” means everything in place and it’s the best way to prepare ingredients in advance especially if you are cooking for a dinner party. Every single restaurant carries out “Mise en Place” and most restaurants actually call it by its French name as homage to French cooking.
Fillet of Beef with Carrot Puree, Spinach, Asparagus and Fondant Potato
By Trevor Thornton
Serves 2
Difficulty Moderate - Hard
Ingredients
Salt and Pepper
Carrot Puree
2-3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
50ml single cream
Spinach
1 bag spinach
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp butter
Asparagus
10 asparagus spears
1 tbsp butter
Fondant Potato
3 large potatoes
1 tbsp butter
1 chicken stock cube
50ml hot water
Steak
2 x 200g pieces of fillet steak, (1” in Thickness)
Method
“Mise en Place”
Place a large saucepan over a high heat and half fill it with water. Bring the water to a fast rolling boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the carrots to the water and cook until you can pierce the carrot with a knife without feeling any resistance. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place directly into a food processor. Add the spices and cream and season with salt and pepper. Process until the puree is very smooth. You may need to scrape the sides down a few times to avoid any lumps. Add more cream if the mixture is not pureed enough. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Push the puree through a fine sieve for a really smooth finish. Set aside until ready for use. This will keep covered in the fridge for a day or two.
Prepare a large bowl of iced water in advance of cooking the spinach. When you cook the spinach and asparagus, you want to stop the cooking process to preserve the beautiful vivid green colour. This can be done in advance as the vegetables can be reheated just before serving. This process is called blanching and you can do this for any vegetable especially peas, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, French beans, and cabbage.
By Trevor Thornton
Serves 2
Difficulty Moderate - Hard
Ingredients
Salt and Pepper
Carrot Puree
2-3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
50ml single cream
Spinach
1 bag spinach
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp butter
Asparagus
10 asparagus spears
1 tbsp butter
Fondant Potato
3 large potatoes
1 tbsp butter
1 chicken stock cube
50ml hot water
Steak
2 x 200g pieces of fillet steak, (1” in Thickness)
Method
“Mise en Place”
Place a large saucepan over a high heat and half fill it with water. Bring the water to a fast rolling boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the carrots to the water and cook until you can pierce the carrot with a knife without feeling any resistance. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place directly into a food processor. Add the spices and cream and season with salt and pepper. Process until the puree is very smooth. You may need to scrape the sides down a few times to avoid any lumps. Add more cream if the mixture is not pureed enough. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Push the puree through a fine sieve for a really smooth finish. Set aside until ready for use. This will keep covered in the fridge for a day or two.
Prepare a large bowl of iced water in advance of cooking the spinach. When you cook the spinach and asparagus, you want to stop the cooking process to preserve the beautiful vivid green colour. This can be done in advance as the vegetables can be reheated just before serving. This process is called blanching and you can do this for any vegetable especially peas, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, French beans, and cabbage.
Using the same water as the carrots, bring the water back to the boil and add the bag of spinach. Cook for exactly 90 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of iced water. Trim the woody ends off the asparagus and place into the boiling water. Cook for exactly 90 seconds. Remove the asparagus from the water with a slotted spoon and place into the iced water. Leave the vegetables in the water until cold. Remove the asparagus from the iced water and set aside. Remove the spinach in a large ball and try to squeeze all the excess moisture out by squeezing your hands together and holding the spinach like a tennis ball. Set aside until ready for use.
For the fondant potato, push a 30-40mm circular cutter through the potato. You want to get two fondants through each potato. Remove the cutter from the potato and trim the top and bottom to achieve a nice cylindrical shape. Repeat this until you have 6 fondants. Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan. When the butter begins to foam place the fondants carefully into the frying pan. You can to cook the fondant on the top and bottom until they achieve a nice golden colour. They will probably take 2-3 minutes aside. Mix the stock cube and hot water together and add enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan. Remove the frying pan from the heat and cover with tin foil. Set aside until ready for use.
“Service”
Place the fondant potatoes covered with the foil into an oven preheated to 200°C. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until you can pierce the potatoes with a knife without feeling any resistance. You can prepare everything else while the potatoes are cooking.
For the steak, make sure to take the steak out of the fridge for a good 30 minutes to come up to room temperature. This is very important as if you cook steaks from cold they won’t be as succulent.
Place a griddle pan over a medium high heat for at least five minutes. Season the steak with salt generously and smear with olive oil. Place the steaks onto the grill pan and cook for 2 minutes on one side and then turn over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Turn the steak over again remembering to keep a diamond pattern and cook for another 2 minutes. This is six minutes total cooking for a 1 inch piece of steak. Remove from the heat and place into aluminium foil to rest for 3-5 minutes. This will leave the steaks rare-medium.
Whilst the steak is resting reheat the carrot puree in a saucepan. Place two small saucepans over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp butter to each saucepan. Place the asparagus in one and the spinach in the other. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper and coat with the butter. Add the nutmeg to the spinach and season. Reheat both whilst stirring.
For the fondant potato, push a 30-40mm circular cutter through the potato. You want to get two fondants through each potato. Remove the cutter from the potato and trim the top and bottom to achieve a nice cylindrical shape. Repeat this until you have 6 fondants. Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan. When the butter begins to foam place the fondants carefully into the frying pan. You can to cook the fondant on the top and bottom until they achieve a nice golden colour. They will probably take 2-3 minutes aside. Mix the stock cube and hot water together and add enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan. Remove the frying pan from the heat and cover with tin foil. Set aside until ready for use.
“Service”
Place the fondant potatoes covered with the foil into an oven preheated to 200°C. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until you can pierce the potatoes with a knife without feeling any resistance. You can prepare everything else while the potatoes are cooking.
For the steak, make sure to take the steak out of the fridge for a good 30 minutes to come up to room temperature. This is very important as if you cook steaks from cold they won’t be as succulent.
Place a griddle pan over a medium high heat for at least five minutes. Season the steak with salt generously and smear with olive oil. Place the steaks onto the grill pan and cook for 2 minutes on one side and then turn over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Turn the steak over again remembering to keep a diamond pattern and cook for another 2 minutes. This is six minutes total cooking for a 1 inch piece of steak. Remove from the heat and place into aluminium foil to rest for 3-5 minutes. This will leave the steaks rare-medium.
Whilst the steak is resting reheat the carrot puree in a saucepan. Place two small saucepans over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp butter to each saucepan. Place the asparagus in one and the spinach in the other. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper and coat with the butter. Add the nutmeg to the spinach and season. Reheat both whilst stirring.
To serve, remove the steak from the tin foil and place on the plate and season with some pepper. Place the spinach on top. Remove the potatoes from the oven and place on the plate. Spoon a large tablespoon of the carrot puree and run the spoon through it in a semi circular direction. Place the asparagus on top or the carrot puree and serve. Yum!
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