Entertain at home: Roast fillet of beef
Take your Saturday night dinner to the next level with this perfectly cooked fillet paired with a sassy Cabernet Sauvignon.
You’ll need: olive oil, for roasting; 1kg grass-fed beef fillet; 30ml Dijon mustard; 5ml freshly cracked black pepper; 1 stem rosemary, de-stalked and finely chopped; Maldon Sea salt flakes, to season; 2 shallots or 1 small brown onion, roughly chopped; 1 fat clove garlic, wrapped in foil.
For the red wine sauce: 350ml Fat bastard Cabernet Sauvignon; 125ml weak beef stock; 3 tablespoons cold butter.
For the roast garlic horseradish cream: 250g (1 cup) Crème Fraiche; 30ml horseradish cream; 15ml lemon juice; 2 stems fennel, roughly chopped; pinch of sea salt flakes.
How to:
Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Pat the beef fillet dry with a kitchen towel. Tie the tenderloin with butcher’s string at 3cm spacings.
Rub the Dijon mustard over the fillet, coating well on all sides. Season generously with salt, black pepper, and rosemary.
Heat an oven-proof pan until hot. Drizzle the fillet with olive oil and brown for 2 minutes per side (about four turns in total).
Add the shallots and garlic clove to the pan and transfer to the oven. For medium-rare, roast uncovered for 23 minutes. Remove the fillet from the pan, cover loosely with a foil tent and rest while you make the sauce.
Remove the garlic and set aside for the cream. Place the pan on the hob, deglaze with the wine and stock. Boil hard to reduce by two thirds. Strain the sauce and discard the solids.
Turn the heat off and add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking to incorporate. Once the sauce is glossy, remove it from the heat and keep warm.
To make the horseradish cream, press the roast garlic into a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
Drizzle the red wine sauce over the fillet and serve with dollops of Horseradish Crème fraîche. Sip on a Fat bastard Cabernet Sauvignon.
About the wine:
Its unapologetically intense aromas of blackcurrant and brambly wild fruit lead promisingly to rich flavours of ripe cassis and chocolate with a hint of earthiness. Balanced tannins and acidity ensure a well-defined structure and elegant finish. Fat, unadulterated joy in a bottle!
* Recipes & image by Bibby’s Kitchen for fatbastardwine.co.za
