Friday, March 26, 2004

Roast Beef Fillet with Soft Polenta & Mushroom Sauce

Serves 4

1kg beef fillet, trimmed
sea salt & cracked black pepper

mushroom sauce
20g butter
3 field mushrooms, sliced
100g button mushrooms, halved
3/4 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard
100g cold butter, extra, chopped
1 tbsp tarragon leaves

soft polenta
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups water
60g butter
1 cup instant polenta

Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Heat large non-stick frying pan over high heat.
Sprinkle beef with salt & pepper.
Brown beef well on all sides & place in baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
Roast for 20 min (for still mooing) or until cooked to your liking (I'd say at least 1-2 hours, & lower the heat to 150ºC).
Remove from oven, cover with foil & rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
To make sauce, add butter to frying pan & cook mushrooms in batches over medium-high heat until golden.
Remove & set aside.
Put wine in frypan & simmer for 3 min.
Add stock & mustard & simmer for 5 min or until reduced by 1/3.
Whisk in extra butter, a little at a time, until sauce thickens.
Return mushrooms to pan, add tarragon & cook for 1 min.
Set asid & keep warm.
To make polenta, place milk, water & butter in saucepan over medium heat.
When simmering, add polenta in a thin stream, whisking to avoid lumps.
Stir mixture for 5 min or until it comes away from sides of pan.
To serve, slice beef & serve on polenta. Spoon over sauce.

Brown Sugar Panna Cotta with Espresso Syrup

Serves 4

2 tbsp water
2 tsp gelatine powder
2 cups cream
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (not essence or flavouring)

espresso syrup
3/4 cup espresso coffee
1/3 cup sugar

To make panna cotta, place water in a bowl & sprinkle over gelatine. Stand for 5 minutes or until gelatine absorbs water.
Place cream in saucepan over medium heat with brown sugar & vanilla extract. Stir occasionally, allowing cream to come to boil.
Add gelatine & cook, stirring, for 1-2 min to dissolve gelatine.
Pour mixture into 4 x 1/2 cup capacity moulds (anything will do, really) that have been very lightly greased with vegetable oil.
Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or until firm.
To make syrup, place coffee & sugar in small saucepan over medium heat.
Stir until sugar dissolves, increase heat & boil for 5-8 min until reduced & thickened.
Refrigerate until cold.
Remove panna cotta from fridge 5 min before serving & unmould.
Pour over syrup & serve.
Yummm!

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