Beef fillet with port sauce and chips
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 2
Ingredients
- 400g beef fillet, trimmed to an even thickness, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra or deep-frying
- 25g butter
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 clove garlic, bashed
- 300g frozen oven chips, (see notes below)
- (optional) truffle salt
- blanched and buttered green beans or mangetout, to serve
PORT SAUCE
- 10g dried porcini mushrooms
- 25g butter
- 1 shallots, finely diced
- 2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
- 200ml port
- 100ml good-quality beef stock
Method
- STEP 1
To make the sauce, pour 100ml of boiling water over the porcini mushrooms and leave to soak for 10 minutes. Heat a pan with the butter and add the shallot, thyme leaves and a pinch of salt. Cook gently for 5 minutes or until the shallot is very soft. Pour in the port, turn up the heat and boil until reduced by 1/2. Pour in the beef stock, add the porcini mushrooms and 50ml of the soaking water and reduce everything by 1/2 again.
- STEP 2
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Lightly oil the fillet and season generously. Heat a frying pan to high and brown the fillet for 2 minutes per side on all 4 sides. Add the butter, thyme sprigs and garlic to the pan, melt, and baste the fillet. Put the fillet, thyme, garlic and a little of the browned butter into a roasting tin and roast for 8-10 minutes or until a digital probe thermometer reads 55C. Rest for 5 minutes on a plate. Pour any resting juices from the plate into the sauce.
- STEP 3
Heat a pan no more than 1/3 full with vegetable oil to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Fry the chips, straight from frozen, for 5-6 minutes until golden brown. Tip onto kitchen paper and season generously with truffle salt, if you like.
- STEP 4
Slice the beef and serve with the sauce, chips and buttered green beans.
