This recipe comes from one of my best buddies Gianni. It’s not his real name, but it’s what I call him. He calls me Goreng so there you go.
He is the absolute master of this dish, and has taught me everything I need to know about it. Even down to having a special saucepan to make the Bearnaise sauce with. He took his saucepan away with us on holidays which impressed me no end.
Aged eye fillet ain’t cheap – so it’s a bit of a pull out all the stops recipe this one. It’s great for special dinner parties or weekends away – it’s a good crowd feeder. And it can be great next day for sambos. Here is Gianni’s recipe.
Ingredients
Beef - aged eye fillet (all sinew cut off by butcher)
Butter - 3 x 250g blocks, chopped into small cubes. Make sure it’s cold to chop.
Apple cider vinegar
8 eggs
Dried tarragon leaves
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (good stuff)
Potatoes (Kipfler, Dutch Cream or Royal Blue)
Broccoli
Bit of cream and chicken stock
Salt (Maldon Sea salt) & pepper
What to do
The Bearnaise
Cover bottom of small saucepan with vinegar, about 15mm up the side. Shake lots of dried tarragon in. Then boil until reduced by half.
Separate about 8 eggs (keep white for omelette next morning). Put saucepan in larger one with water in bottom (double boiler)…if you’re good you can do on direct heat (difficult – as you need to be skilled not to overheat and separate butter from egg yolk). Beat the yolks into vinegar and tarragon. Start dropping in cubed pieces of butter. Whisk till melted. Continue till all the butter is gone. Add until it tastes perfect. It should be very thick consistency.
It should steam…..cook béarnaise without getting too hot, otherwise it will separate. You can notice if the edge of the saucepan starts to go shiny yellow melted butter look (see emergency note below).
Emergency Bearnaise rescue:
If it starts to separate (which happens rool quick) place in iced cold water in sink (which you have ready). If completely pharked, turn it around by putting the whole saucepan into the freezer and cool down lots. Then just beat/whisk it back……it is possible – don’t throw out!!!
The Meat:
Cook on grill of BBQ or cast iron grill on stove (really really hot – so it chars a little on underside off beef – this is crucial for taste). Turn once when ready – which is when the blood rises to the surface. Must be cooked RARE otherwise don’t bother spending the money. The exact time is hard to say, because BBQ’s vary in temperature. Turn over for 5-10 minutes only.
Max time if cooked on top of hot bbq grill (depending also on weight + size of fillet) is 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 min after taking off grill. Beef should cut like butter on plate.
Slice into thick pieces and always serve with broccoli and potatoes (yellow waxy flesh potatoes – cut rough with skin on in baking tray with little bit of chicken stock and bit of cream, salt (Maldon only) pepper, rosemary and garlic cloves whole unpeeled).
Pour bearnaise over everything – beef, broccoli and tatoes.
Yum.
Have hot plates ready and serve with GF mustard.
