Beef Fillet With Mushroom Gratin

This is a wonderful Beef Fillet dinner with a simple topping of a mushroom gratin, served with rosemary new potatoes fried in olive oil.

Beef Fillet With Mushrooms Recipe

Recipe Ingredients:

Serves 4 people

Beef Fillet

• 1 shallot (finely chopped)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 100g field mushrooms (roughly chopped)
• 100g chestnut mushrooms (roughly chopped)
• 2 tbsp chives (finely chopped)
• 4 tbsp double (heavy) cream
• 1 large egg yolk
• 4 fillet steaks (about 180g and 4cm thick)
• 3 tbsp freshly grated Cheddar cheese

New potatoes

• 500g new potatoes (scrubbed)
• 5-6 tbsp olive oil
• Few sprigs of rosemary
• 8 garlic cloves (skin on and lightly crushed)
• a small knob of butter
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Recipe Method:

Preheat oven to 220°C

In a large saucepan place the scrubbed (cleaned) new potatoes and fill with cold water to cover – add 1tsp of sea-salt, partially cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are only just tender when pierced with a skewer. Drain the new potatoes and rinse under cold, running water. Drain and halve the potatoes, then pat them dry with kitchen paper. Set these aside for later.

To prepare the mushroom gratin gently sauté the chopped shallot and the crushed garlic clove in a tablespoon of olive oil (for about 5 minutes) until they are nicely softened, but not browned. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add the mushrooms and sauté the mushrooms in the pan over a higher heat, stirring frequently, (for about 7 minutes) until browned and cooked. The mixture should at the end be quite dry so if necessary tip the pan contents into a sieve to drain off any remaining liquid. Remove the garlic clove and transfer the mushrooms to a bowl, allow to cool.

Whip the double cream in a bowl until softly stiff. Fold in the fried mushrooms and shallot along with the egg yolk, chopped herbs and a tablespoon of the grated cheddar cheese, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Pat the steaks dry then season the steaks all over with sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan until you can feel a strong heat rising. Cook the steaks for about 2-3 minutes, turning them to seal all over. Remove from the pan and put the steaks on a shallow baking tray.

Spoon the mushroom mixture over the top of the steaks and sprinkle over with the remaining cheddar cheese. Cook in the oven uncovered, for about 5 minutes until the mushroom and cheese topping is bubbling and golden.

Meanwhile, finish off the new potatoes. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and rosemary, followed by the potatoes. Sauté over a fairly high heat, until the potatoes are golden brown – stir throughout to prevent them sticking to the pan. Add a knob of butter towards the end of cooking, season generously with salt and pepper.

When ready, serve the mushroom gratin covered steaks with the sautéed new potatoes.