
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
Nutrition:
- kcal328
- fat12g
- saturates5g
- carbs0g
- sugars0g
- fibre0g
- protein44g
- salt2.94g
Ingredients
- 6 fillet steaks
Steak
StaykSteak is essentially a boneless thick or thin slice of red meat, cut across the grain of a large…
For the red wine sauce
- knob of butter
Butter
butt-errButter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 4 shallots, chopped
Shallot
shal-lotRelated to the onion (as opposed to being a younger version of it), shallots grow in clusters at…
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
Celery
sell-er-eeA collection of long, thick, juicy stalks around a central, tender heart, celery ranges in…
- 1 bay leaf
- sprig thyme
Thyme
This popular herb grows in Europe, especially the Mediterranean, and is a member of the mint…
- olive oil, for frying
Olive oil
ol-iv oylProbably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 200g lean beef trimmings, chopped
Beef
bee-fThe classic cut of meat for a British Sunday roast, beef is full of flavour, as well as being a…
- 75cl bottle red wine (Fitou gives a very rich, red colour)
- 1.2l fresh beef jus (or try using cans of beef consommé)
Beef
bee-fThe classic cut of meat for a British Sunday roast, beef is full of flavour, as well as being a…
Method
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, vegetables and herbs, and cook on a medium heat until they soften and begin to colour. Heat a drop of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the beef trimmings and fry until coloured and sealed all over. Add the meat to the vegetables.
Pour 1-2 glasses of wine into the frying pan in which you have cooked the meat. Bring this to the boil, scraping and lifting all the meat residue from the bottom of the pan. Pour the liquid into the pan that contains the meat and vegetables. Let the pan’s contents bubble until the wine has reduced by three-quarters.
Now add and reduce the rest of the wine, 1-2 glasses at a time. If you tip it all in at once, you wash the vegetables and meat of their roasted edge, so their flavour in the finished sauce is bland. Reduce by three-quarters, glass by glass until all the wine is used.
Now add the beef jus, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 45 mins to 1 hr. Regularly skim away any impurities by weaving a small ladle in and out of the top of the sauce. Taste regularly and when you are happy with the flavour, strain the sauce through a fine sieve, squeezing out all the juices from the meat and vegetables.
Ideally, also pass the sauce through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin, which will help remove fine impurities. Check for seasoning. You can make ahead up to this point, cool and refrigerate or freeze.
Heat a grill or pan to hot, smear the steaks with oil and cook them, turning once, 4-5 mins for rare, 7-8 mins for medium, 8-10 mins for well done. Serve the steaks on a bed of wilted spinach with sticky shallots and pour the red wine sauce around. Mashed potatoes make a good accompaniment to this.
Comments, questions and tips