Tag: thyme

Bordelaise Sauce with Mushrooms

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 8

A few years ago, I typed up this absolutely brilliant and iconic Thomas Keller dish, the “Yabba Dabba Do“. It is served with a classic Bordelaise sauce and this really is the finest of the juses.

One of our favourite dishes at what was an excellent, local French restaurant – before it closed – was a rib eye, bone-in served smothered with braised mushrooms.

So why not combine the two?

I adjusted this recipe to separate the mushrooms from the Bordelaise sauce and then to reduce the sauce, ready to serve at the side.

My mother joined us from a wonder, late-Autumn French lunch and the tomahawk I cooked over charcoal, with these mushrooms and the Bordelaise sauce was an absolute highlight.

For the rare occasions we do eat beef, this is unquestionably a recipe we will return to.

So rich. So satisfying. Classy!

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp shallot, minced
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp butter
2 cups, sliced assorted mushrooms
1 c beef broth
1/3 c red wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp cold water

Method

  1. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a skillet over a medium heat. Stir in the garlic and shallot and cook until the shallot has softened and turned translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining 3 tbsp of butter, then stir in the mushrooms once the butter has melted. Cook and stir the mushrooms until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour in the beef broth, wine and Worcestershire sauce; season with the bay leaf and thyme, and bring to a simmer over a medium-high heat. Once simmering, season to taste, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook, uncovered until the sauce reduces slightly, about 30 minutes.
  3. Strain the mushrooms and solids, and set aside, retaining the sauce.
  4. Continuing on a medium-low heat, continue to simmer the sauce for another few minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold waer and stir into the simmering sauce until thickened.
  5. Serve the mushrooms along the Bordelaise sauce, ready to pour.

Neil Perry’s Guiness Beef Pie

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

We rarely cook beef and when we do, it needs to be special.

And this pie is definitly that, especially with the homemade shortcrust pastry; pastry packing so much falvour compared to the store-bought variety, unless time was of the essence, not sure how you couldn’t make your own going-forward.

Well done Nat!

A while ago, we cooked the Bourke Street Bakery Humble Beef Pie and it was just the perfect, pie-hop chunky beef pie.

This pie is magnitudes richer. The opposite end of the pie menu to the Humble Beef Pie. A fancy Saturday night pie.

Served with potato puree and braised peas, it was such a treat. Add a glass of red and heaven.

Some Saturday nights in call for a pie. This particular pie gets full marks for meeting the brief.

Another Neil Perry homerun.

Ingredients

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1.2kg beef brisket or chuck, cut into 2.5cm chunks
2 small brown onions, sliced
1 carrot, diced
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
750ml Guinness beer
300ml chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 sheet all-butter puff pastry
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ketchup to serve

For the shortcrust pastry

350gm plain flour
180gm cold unsalted butter diced
Pinch of fine salt
4 egg yolks

Method

  1. For the shortcrust pastry, put the flour, butter and salt into a food processor and process to a breadcrumb-like texture. Add the egg yolks and, with the machine running, slowly add 1 1/2 tbsp iced water, adding just enough to form a dough. Turn out the dough onto a floured bench and knead gently, just until the pastry comes together, then wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes or until needed.
  2. Preheat the oven ton 150c.
  3. Heat half the olive oil in a large, heavy-based ovenproof saucepan or casserole and, working in batches, brown the beef, making sure you get it a good dark brown colour. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  4. Heat the rest of the oil in the same pan. Add the onions, carrot, celery, leek and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until softened and caramelised.
  5. Return the meat to the pan, along with the thyme, bay leaf, Guinness, stock and 1 tsp of salt. then bring to a gentle simmer, skimming off any oil or scum that rises to the surface. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 – 3 hours or until the meat is very tender.
  6. Strain the meat and vegetables from the cooking liquid, keeping both in separate bowls.
  7. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, then add the flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it is a deep golden brown and toasty smelling. Whisk in the strained cooking liquid and simmer, whisking constantly, until you have a smooth, thick gravy. Pour the gravy into the bowl of meat and vegetables and stir well. Check the seasoning of your pie filling, then leave to cool completely.
  8. When you are ready to assemble, preheat the oven to 200c and lightly grease your pie tin. On a flour-dusted bench, roll out the shortcrust pastryto a 5mm thickness and then cut out a cirlce 24 – 29cm in diameter. Use to line the base of your pie tim, then spoon in the pie filling.
  9. Lay out the puff pastry and cut out a ircle about 22cm in diameter. Use to top the pie, pressing the edges of the pastry firmly together all the way around. Trim the edges neatly – if you like, you can use the pastry offcuts to make some leaf decorations for the top of the pie.
  10. Brush the pie with beaten egg yolk, then poke a small hole in the centre with the tip of a paring knife to allow steam to escape. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 25 – 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and deep golden. Serve immediately, with tomato sauce on the side.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina with Salsa Dragoncello (Steak Florentine with Tarragon Sauce)

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 2

I am a big fan of dressing up steak and we generally have at least one steak butter on hand for a moorish dinner of steak and potatoes. (You simply cannot go past Café de Paris butter if you are new to it all!)

This recipe is a step up and really is the center of a wonderful meal.

Any number of sides you could serve from chargrilled asparagus with chilli and toasted sesame seeds, a potato gratin, a green salad or all of the above.

However you do it, this will get Saturday lunch talking and kick off an afternoon of wine, laughter and promises you’ll never keep.

I can’t wait.

Ingredients

1kg piece porterhouse steak on the bone (T-bone with loin attached)*
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil (with extra to brush)
1 tbsp each chopped thyme and rosemary
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Salsa dragoncello
6 hard-boiled eggs
2 slices day-old ciabatta or sourdough, crust removed, torn into 2cm pieces (makes 1 cup)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp chopped tarragon leaves
6 anchovy fillet, chopped
1 ½ tbsp baby capers, chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Heat your grill on a high heat.
  2. For the salsa: Halves the eggs and scoop out the yolks (you don’t need the whites for the dish). Place the yolks in a bowl and mash with a fork.
  3. Place the bread in a separate bowl with the red wine vinegar and 2 tbsp of warm water. Mash together until the liquid has been absorbed. Add the egg yolks, tarragon, anchovy, capers and oil and stir to combine. Set aside.
  4. For the steak: Brush the steak with the extra oil and season with salt. Reduce the the heat of the grill to medium-high and then cook steak for 15 minutes each side for medium rare. (If using an alternative cut, cook until medium rare.)
  5. Whilst cooking, place thyme, rosemary, garlic and olive oil in a shallow dish with freshly ground pepper and a couple pinches of salt. Place the cooked steak in the dish, cover with foil and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes, turning once.
  6. To serve, cut steak away from the bone on either side, then slice the fillets. Spoon some of the salsa on top and serve with a drizzle of the resting juices.

 

*Ask your butcher ahead of time for this.

Parmesan Dressing

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Salad is one of our favourite fall-back meals.

And the boys love nothing more than homemade sausages, some chargrilled eye fillet and a green salad… with one of the rotating salad dressings we like to make.

The rotation gets a little bigger with this one from Curtis Stone and its simplicity – and the parmesan – are what make it such a no-brainer for a throw-together grilled chicken salad.

I recommend adding this little number to your repertoire.

Ingredients

2 tbsp red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 eschalot, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped thyme
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Season and drizzled over your next salad.

Baked Brie

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Baked Brie

Serves: Starter/Side

Pretty simple, pretty awesome this one.

You need a more wow starter than your usual cheese and crackers; so bake it; and there you have it?!

You just won 15 points for effort and genius

Ingredients

Brie
Butter
Thyme sprigs
Red wine
Grated lemon rind

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c and butter a small baking dish.
  2. Push thyme sprigs into slits in the brie, pour over some wine, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  3. 3. Sprinkle with the lemon rind and some thyme leaves.