Ingredients
For the braised feather blade of beef
- 1kg feather blade beef, trimmed
- 3tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 celery sticks diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 250ml red wine
- 500ml beef stock
- 2tbsp tomato purée
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1tsp Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
For the horseradish crème fraiche
- 200g cup crème fraîche or sour cream
- 1 tablespoon grated horseradish
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Fillet steak
Directions
For the braised featherblade
- Preheat the oven to 120C.
Season the beef on all sides with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the pieces until brown each side. Transfer the beef to a braising dish. - Reduce the heat under the frying pan and add more oil. Gently fry the onion, celery and carrots until golden and softened. Stir in the garlic then cook for a further minute. Add the vegetables to the braising dish.
- Deglaze the frying pan with the red wine. Allow the wine to bubble for a few seconds, stirring constantly. Pour the liquid over the meat and vegetables.
- Stir in the beef stock and tomato purée. Strip thyme leaves from their stalks and sprinkle into the casserole dish. Add the bay leaf and mustard then stir everything until well combined.
- Bring to the boil and remove the dish from the heat. Cover the surface of meat and liquid carefully with baking parchment. Place the lid on top and cook in the oven for 8 hours or until the beef is very tender.
- Transfer the beef to a tray. Strain the cooking liquor and vegetables through a sieve into a large non-stick frying pan. Press the vegetables with the bottom of a ladle or a large spoon to extract a rich purée and stir into the cooking liquor, reduce until thick and glossy. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Optional
Shred the beef into small pieces, mix in the reduced cooking liquor. Lay out a sheet of baking parchment and place the featherblade mixture on top spread out the mix and lay another piece of baking parchment on top. Using a rolling pin roll the feather blade mix to a 5mm thickness in a rectangular shape and set in the freezer. Once it is set cut the sheet of feather blade through the parchment into 4cm by 2cm rectangular pieces. Reheat on a baking sheet under a salamander and slide onto a warm plate.
For the horseradish crème fraiche
Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.
Fillet steak cooking times (for a 3.5cm thick fillet steak)
Blue: 1½ mins each side
Rare: 2¼ mins each side
Medium-rare: 3¼ mins each side
Medium: 4½ mins each side
To serve
To accompany the steak and the feather blade of beef, roast spring onion, caramelised pearl onion, mini fondant potato, horseradish crème fraiche and red wine jus
Recipe courtesy of Eric Kavanagh, head chef at the Herbert Restaurant Cahernane House Hotel Killarney
