Gordon's alive!

On Gordon Ramsay’s penultimate F Word he demonstrated a fabulous looking dish of Beef fillet with a gratin of mushrooms and sautéed new potatoes. I was surprised to see that this recipe wasn’t included in his new book – ‘Sunday Dinners’ which has some truly delicious recipes in it. Fortunately the F Word website has the recipe and rather handily, a little video of Gordon Ramsay creating the dish. I am hoping that they’ll bring out a complete DVD of all the dishes Gordon makes on the F Word, I know I’d want to add it to my collection. The DVD that comes with the book just teases you with a handful of recipes. And for D I’d put a plea in for an extended version of the scene in the opening credits where Gordon disrobes as he strides purposely down a corridor. I know D would like to examine that scene in greater detail! Whereas I was just rather taken by his jacket – I’m loving the lining, Gordon!

Fillet with a gratin of mushrooms and sautéed new potatoes

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
100g mixed mushrooms (shiitake, oyster), roughly chopped
100g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tbsp chives, finely chopped
4 tbsp double cream
1 large egg yolk
4 fillet steaks, about 180g and 4cm thick
3 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
500g new potatoes, scrubbed
5-6 tbsp olive oil
few sprigs of rosemary
8 garlic cloves, skin on and lightly crushed
knob of butter
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

- Preheat oven to 220°C/Gas 7.

- Place the new potatoes in a large pan and fill with cold water to cover. Add a generous pinch of salt, partially cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are just tender when pierced with a skewer. Drain and refresh under cold, running water. Halve the potatoes and pat dry with kitchen paper. Set aside.

- To prepare the topping, gently sauté the shallot and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 5 minutes until nicely softened. Add a further 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the mushrooms over a high heat, stirring frequently, for about 7 minutes until browned and cooked. The mixture should be quite dry. If necessary, tip it into a sieve to drain off any remaining liquid. Remove the garlic clove and transfer the mushrooms to a bowl, allow to cool.

- Whip the cream until softly stiff. Fold in the mushrooms along with the egg yolk, herbs and a tablespoon of the grated Parmesan, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

- Season the steaks all over with salt and pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan until you can feel a strong heat rising. Cook the steaks for about 2-3 minutes, turning them to seal all over. Remove from the pan. Put the steaks on a shallow baking tray. Pile the mushroom mixture on top of the steaks and dust with the remaining Parmesan. Cook in the oven uncovered, for about 5-7 minutes until the topping is bubbling and golden.

- Meanwhile, finish off the potatoes. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and rosemary, followed by the potatoes. Sauté over a fairly high heat, until the potatoes are golden brown - stir throughout to prevent them sticking to the pan. Add a knob of butter towards the end of cooking, season generously with salt and pepper.

- When ready, serve the steaks with the sautéed potatoes.

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Thank you Gordon, I think you’ve sorted out one of the meals at D, MC & LLT’s next week. Yum!

update: this was a huge success and perfect for an early birthday treat - see link
another update: it was even better second time around - see picture above!

And as an aside - why would the phrase 'Gordon's alive!' conjure up an image of a loud man in a beard and leather skirt?