OK, ordinarily, we would say that ALL of our steaks should be cooked and served up fairly unadulterated. A hot pan, some vigorous seasoning, a dab of Bungay Butter from Fen Farm Dairy maybe and that should be enough. The beef itself will do the rest.
And yet, at T&G, we are also suckers for a decent gravy or sauce to accompany a Friday night slab.
There is something quite pleasurable in the act of circling a plate, with a fork pronged with some medium rare beef, all glazed, glistening and savoury.
In fact, you should see what Chef has got lined up 'jus- wise' for his Valentine's Day recipe coming soon. We can't say too much right now, apart from the exclamation of 'Oof!'
The main components in question here are mushrooms and tarragon, blending earthiness and fragrant aniseed and held within a balm of double cream and Parmesan cheese. All failry straightforward and simple really.
As a result, you could use this method across the board with our beef. But in this instance, we've paired the sauce up with our rib fillet, which we will be getting in as a regular staple for online.
By way of a final word, this also works well if you pour over your steak in the pan and give it a quick blast under a ferociously hot grill, to gratinate.
Don't leave it too long under there though, for fear of overdoing and heading towards well-done.
That really would be wrong.
Ingredients – serves 2
2 Rib Fillets (250g)
Maldon Sea Salt
Cracked black pepper
Butter or oil, for frying
2 shallots, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely diced
200g Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
100ml dry white wine
1bsp tarragon leaves chopped
200ml double cream
75g Parmesan cheese, grated
Method
First, prepare your sauce by adding a good knob of butter or splash of oil into a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add the shallots and gently sweat them down for a few minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for a further minute before adding the mushrooms, continuing to stir until they start to evaporate.
Next add the wine and turn the heat up a touch, so that the alcohol cooks off and until the wine reduces fully.
Turn the heat down again and then add the cream, tarragon and half of the grated Parmesan. Stir in and reduce until the sauce has thickened up. Taste and season, and then keep warm.
To cook your steaks, place another pan on the hob over a high heat and generously season the beef with Maldon sea salt.
Put the steak into the pan and turn frequently to achieve a good crust and colour all over, and then turn the heat down and cook further, until the internal temperature reaches 55°C for medium rare.
Rest for 10 minutes and heat up your sauce before serving and finishing by sprinkling over the rest of the Parmesan cheese.
Like we said, a good blast under the grill is a nice finishing touch but make sure that the grill is super hot and that you don't go any further than a minute!
Great with jacket potato and a green salad.
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