Slow-cooked beef with horseradish mash, caramelised carrots and a red wine sauce

Inspired by last nights episode of Masterchef, I thought I’d try and recreate Emma’s slow-cooked beef - although I decided to leave out the onion ice-cream! I’ve amended it slightly to make it easier, (a bit) healthier and to avoid words like jus. The whole thing shouldn’t take much longer than an hour.

I changed parts of the recipe based on what I had in the fridge, but the one thing you do need to make sure you get just right is the beef. If at all possible go to a butcher and make sure it looks fresh before you buy it. Another thing that will really improve the taste is using fresh stock. I had some left over from the lamb I cooked the other day but you can buy pots of fresh stock in most supermarkets. Go for beef if possible.

INGREDIENTS (feeds 2)

For the beef

  • 2 x 200g aged beef fillet
  • Salt, pepper, 1 tsp olive oil

For the sauce

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 50g beef trimmings (ask your butcher or just buy a cheap bit of fatty steak and chop it up)
  • 1 large shallot
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • I sprig of fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 50ml port
  • 100ml red wine
  • 1 litre of fresh stock
  • 10g butter

For the mash

  • 200g small waxy potatoes
  • 100ml creme fraiche
  • 20g butter
  • Horseradish

For the carrots

  • 8 baby carrots
  • 25g butter

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 60°C

Heat the olive oil in a skillet or frying pan until it’s as hot as possible. Season the steaks with a generous amount of salt and ground black pepper and then sear them in the pan - they should be golden brown on all sides. Wrap them separately in tin foil and place in the oven for just under and hour.

Add another tsp of olive oil to the pan and then fry the beef trimmings till they’re golden brown. Meanwhile chop the shallot and the garlic and pick the leaves off the thyme. Add these to the pan with some salt and pepper, the bay leaf and a bit more olive oil if needed. Fry until the onions are golden brown and then add the port. This should completely evaporate almost instantly but if not keep stirring until it has. Then add the red wine and boil until it has reduced by two-thirds. Finally add the stock and leave boiling away until it has reduced again by two-thirds.

Whilst your waiting for the sauce to reduce, put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Then simmer gently for 25 minutes. Also get some plates in the oven.

Get another pan of boiling water on for the carrots and then cook them for about 10 minutes until just tender.

When your stock has reduced pour it through a sieve into a clean pan. Gently warm it through on the hob and then stir in the butter.

Wipe the pan you originally used for your sauce clean and melt the butter in it for the carrots. As soon as the carrots are done plunge them into cold water for a minute or two. Then cook them in the butter on a medium heat, seasoning with salt and pepper and turning every now and then until they are caramelised and golden-brown.

Whilst these are cooking and when your potatoes are done, carefully remove the skins and then push them through a ricer or a sieve. Gently warm the creme fraiche through in a pan, then add to the potato with the butter and stir through well. Add salt and pepper and horseradish to taste (I added about 2 tsp).

Check on your steak. If you have a thermometer check the internal temperature - it should be 50°C. If not turn the oven up slightly and stick it back in the oven.

To serve spoon the potato onto the plate, slice the steaks and arrange them on top, pour over a few spoons of the sauce and arrange the carrots however you like.

RESULT

It all came out pretty well actually. The sauce was amazing (although very rich), the steak was cooked beautifully and the mash and carrots were delicious. The only thing that slightly let it down was the taste of the steak. I’m not sure if was quite as fresh as it could have been - need to find a better butcher!