We had the whole Cook family over for lunch on December 28th. We had overdosed on turkey by this time so were in need of some good old red meat. This deceptively simple recipe for cooking fillet of beef is easy to prepare and absolutely delicious. Although I should warn those who don't like their meat on the rare side of pink that this is not for them, you could of course cook it for longer but it would be a crime to cook fillet until it was grey!
We had it with one of our favourite standby dishes from the same River Cafe Classic cook book, Roast potatoes from Lucca.
Roast Beef with Rosemary
Ingredients For 6
1kg - 1.5kg Piece of beef from the thick end of the fillet
sea salt and ground black pepper
10 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or more if they are short. You need to cover the whole length of the meat)
extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine, preferably Chianti.
Method
Pre heat oven to 225c
season fillet all over with s and p
Make a layer of rosemary on a board using half the sprigs, place the fillet on top and then cover with the remaining rosemary. it should be completely covered.
Now tie with butchers string (or the great silicone ties Martha gave me...see below)
Choose a roasting tray in which the beef will fit snugly. Drizzle the tray with olive oil, add the filet and then drizzle more oil over. Place a piece of foil over loosely and put into the oven.
The River cafe recipe says to roast for 10 minutes, then turn the meat over, add the wine, replace the foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes for medium rare. My experience has been that means that the meat is extremely rare even for a blood loving carnivore like me. I would cook it for at least another 5 minutes but obviously caution is required to avoid over cooking. If you have a meat thermometer you want the meat to be between 50 and 52 degrees at the centre when you take it out of the oven.
Once you have removed the beef from the oven let the beef sit in the roasting pan for 5 minutes. Now remove the rosemary and place the meat on a warm serving dish. Starin the juices into a jug and serve the beef cut into slices about 1cm thick with a little of the wine juices and plenty of olive oil poured over it.
Roast potatoes from Lucca
ingredients
1.5kg waxy potatoes
1 medium red onion peeled
6 garlic clove, peeled and kept whole
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage
120ml dry white wine
100ml ex virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
method
Pre heat oven to 200c
peel potatoes and slice into very fine slices (5mm) use a mandoline if you can.
Put them in cold water to wash off excess starch, drain and pat dry and then put in a large mixing bowl.
finely slice the red onion and, keeping the garlic cloves whole just press them to partly crush them. Wash the herbs and pull the leaves from the woody stems.. Add the onion, garlic and herbs to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss well to make sure the potatoes and herbs are coated with the oil and wine.
choose a baking tray that will fit all the potatoes in spread in not too thick a layer (but not too thin or they will burn at the edges). Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 mins.
Remove the foil , then, using the back of a large spoon or a potato masher, breakup the potatoes and herbs to make a rough mash. Drizzle with olive oil.
Return the tray to the hot oven and roast for a further 30-45 mins, until the potatoes are brown and crisp and still light and fluffy underneath.
We had it with one of our favourite standby dishes from the same River Cafe Classic cook book, Roast potatoes from Lucca.
Roast Beef with Rosemary
Ingredients For 6
1kg - 1.5kg Piece of beef from the thick end of the fillet
sea salt and ground black pepper
10 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or more if they are short. You need to cover the whole length of the meat)
extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine, preferably Chianti.
Method
Pre heat oven to 225c
season fillet all over with s and p
Make a layer of rosemary on a board using half the sprigs, place the fillet on top and then cover with the remaining rosemary. it should be completely covered.
Now tie with butchers string (or the great silicone ties Martha gave me...see below)
The River cafe recipe says to roast for 10 minutes, then turn the meat over, add the wine, replace the foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes for medium rare. My experience has been that means that the meat is extremely rare even for a blood loving carnivore like me. I would cook it for at least another 5 minutes but obviously caution is required to avoid over cooking. If you have a meat thermometer you want the meat to be between 50 and 52 degrees at the centre when you take it out of the oven.
Once you have removed the beef from the oven let the beef sit in the roasting pan for 5 minutes. Now remove the rosemary and place the meat on a warm serving dish. Starin the juices into a jug and serve the beef cut into slices about 1cm thick with a little of the wine juices and plenty of olive oil poured over it.
Roast potatoes from Lucca
ingredients
1.5kg waxy potatoes
1 medium red onion peeled
6 garlic clove, peeled and kept whole
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage
120ml dry white wine
100ml ex virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
method
Pre heat oven to 200c
peel potatoes and slice into very fine slices (5mm) use a mandoline if you can.
Put them in cold water to wash off excess starch, drain and pat dry and then put in a large mixing bowl.
finely slice the red onion and, keeping the garlic cloves whole just press them to partly crush them. Wash the herbs and pull the leaves from the woody stems.. Add the onion, garlic and herbs to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss well to make sure the potatoes and herbs are coated with the oil and wine.
choose a baking tray that will fit all the potatoes in spread in not too thick a layer (but not too thin or they will burn at the edges). Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 mins.
Remove the foil , then, using the back of a large spoon or a potato masher, breakup the potatoes and herbs to make a rough mash. Drizzle with olive oil.
Return the tray to the hot oven and roast for a further 30-45 mins, until the potatoes are brown and crisp and still light and fluffy underneath.
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