Chateaubriand with bordelaise sauce - Rick Stein

Chateaubriand with bordelaise sauce, pommes Coq d’Or and cheesemaker’s salad

"This is a classic dish. We've put a twist on it and rather than using bavette (as in the original recipe) I've chosen chateaubriand as it's the way we do it in the bistro. We use an amazing beef supplier from Scotland who produces this beautiful 28 day dry aged, Aberdeen Angus cross. The tricky part is to cook the meat just right. I'd always recommend rare to medium rare, for which I'd hard sear the meat on both sides on the griddle before popping it in the oven for roughly 12 minutes, depending on the size of the meat. The secret is to let the meat rest for 10 mins before carving."

Paul Harwood, head chef at St Petroc's Bistro in Padstow

 

© Rick Stein's French Odyssey, courtesy of BBC Books, first published in 2005.

 

Serves 2

1 x 500 g top cut fillet of beef

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pommes Coq d'Or and Patricia Wells's cheesemaker's salad, to serve

 

For the bordelaise sauce:

40 g unsalted butter

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

200 ml good quality red wine, such as Bordeaux

600 ml beef stock, browned (see basics)

 

For the shallot and thyme garnish:

4 tablespoons sunflower oil

750 g shallots, peeled and very thinly sliced

45 g unsalted butter

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

 

 

Method

 

For the bordelaise sauce, melt 15 g of butter in a small pan, add the garlic and shallot and sauté gently until soft and very lightly browned. Add the red wine and simmer rapidly until reduced by three-quarters. Add the beef stock and continue to simmer rapidly until reduced once more by three-quarters.

Meanwhile, for the shallot and thyme garnish, heat the sunflower oil in a large shallow pan, add the shallots and sauté until they are soft and lightly caramelized. Add the butter and thyme leaves and continue to sauté until richly browned and almost crispy. Set aside and keep warm.

Pass the bordelaise sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan, bring back to a simmer and whisk in the remaining butter a small piece at a time. Season to taste and keep warm.

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat a large frying pan until hot, add the sunflower oil and the beef and fry them for 2 minutes on each side until nicely browned.

To serve, spoon some of the bordelaise sauce onto each plate and place a chateaubriand on top. Spoon a quarter of the shallot and thyme garnish along each one and serve with the pommes Coq d'Or and cheesemaker's salad.

 

Pommes Coq d'Or

900ml Chicken stock (see basics)

2 garlic cloves

750 g potatoes, peeled and sliced

25 g butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.  Boil 900 ml Chicken stock until reduced to 175 ml and then leave to cool slightly. Mash 2 garlic cloves with a little salt under the blade of a knife into a smooth paste and stir into the stock with 1 teaspoon salt and 20 turns of the black pepper mill. Peel 750 g floury potatoes and slice them very thinly on a mandolin, by hand or using the slicing blade of a food processor.  Liberally butter the inside of a large cast-iron gratin dish. Layer the potatoes in the dish, overlapping the slices slightly as you go, starting on the outside and working inwards. The potatoes should be a maximum of three layers thick. Add the chicken stock, which should come just below the top layer of potatoes, and dot the top with 25 g butter. Cook for 1 hour.

 

Patricia Wells's cheesemaker's salad

Put 2 thinly sliced shallots, separated into rings, and 1 tablespoon good red wine vinegar into a large, shallow salad bowl. Toss them together and set aside - for at least 15 minutes and anything up to 4 hours - to soften the shallots. When you are ready to serve, add the washed and dried leaves from 1 mild, delicately flavoured green lettuce, such as a butterhead or soft round lettuce, and toss to coat with the vinegar and shallots. Season with some salt, add 2-3 tablespoons double cream and toss together very gently to coat all the leaves. Serve straight away.

 

BASICS

  

Beef stock

 

Makes approx. 2.4 litres

2 tablespoons sunflower oil (optional)

2 celery sticks

2 carrots

2 onions

900 g shin of beef

5 litres water

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

1 tablespoon salt

 

For a pale brown stock, put all the ingredients except for the bay leaves, thyme and salt into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, skimming off any scum. Reduce the heat and simmer for 21/2 hours, adding the salt and herbs 15 minutes before the end.

 

For a deeper, richer-coloured stock, heat the sunflower oil in the pan, add the vegetables and beef and fry for 10-15 minutes until nicely browned, before adding the water, herbs and salt.

 

 

Chicken stock

Use the bones from a roasted chicken for a slightly deeper-flavoured stock.

 

Makes approx. 1.75 litres

Bones from a 1.5-kg uncooked chicken, or 450 g chicken wings or drumsticks

1 large carrot, chopped

2 celery sticks, sliced

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

2.25 litres water

 

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring just to the boil, skimming off any scum from the surface as it appears. Leave to simmer very gently for 2 hours - it is important not to let it boil as this will force the fat from even the leanest chicken and make the stock cloudy. Strain the stock through a sieve and leave it to simmer a little longer to concentrate in flavour if necessary, then use or store (in the refrigerator or freezer) as required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

( Last Updated: 15-09-2011 )