Grilled Beef Fillet with Smoked Sweet Potato Mash, Wild Mushroom and Truffle Cream
This is a quick 30 minute recipe, to pair with Wildekrans Barrel Select Shiraz (Serves 4 people).
Ingredients
800g Beef Fillet, Trimmed and cleaned
20 ml Wildekrans Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, Diced
1 Clove of Garlic, crushed
300g Wild Mushrooms
4 Thyme Sprigs
2 Generous Sprigs of Rosemary
½ a Lemon
10 ml Truffle oil
2 Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 4 equal pieces per unit
500ml Cream
100 g of Butter (Preferably unsalted)
4 Rooibos Tea Bags
Salt & Cracked Black Pepper
Method
Place the sweet potato into a sauce pot and cover with salted water. Place the pot on a medium heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft, but not falling apart. Strain the potatoes trying to keep them as intact as possible.
Then, empty the Rooibos tea bags into your most undesirable oven tray (at least 1 inch deep), and add 2 sprigs of thyme. Then place a wire rack on the top of the tray, making sure that there is some clearance between the tea and the tray. Add the potatoes onto the rack and add 1- 2 drops of water. Cover the tray completely with tinfoil. Place the tray on a high heat for 2 minutes. You will have this delightful smell of burning Rooibos and Thyme filling your kitchen. Remove the tray from the heat and carefully remove the sweet potatoes.
In a separate sauce pot, place 80g of the butter and 250ml cream and heat over a moderate heat. Use this liquid to mash the sweet potato and season. You might not need all of the cream mixture, this all depends how you like your mash.
Heat a cast iron grill pan to smoking point (or even better, use a charcoal grill). Cut the Fillet into 4 equal portions. Season generously with salt and cracked black pepper. The pepper brings a nice spice element, which works very well with Shiraz.
Place the fillet steaks on the grill, taking care not to move the meat too much – you want to retain all those lovey juices. Then add the olive oil to a sauté pan with the rosemary sprigs, clove of garlic and 20g of Butter, and heat for 2 minutes on a moderate heat. Then set aside, to be used later. Once the fillet is cooked to your desired temperature, remove the steaks and let them rest in the olive oil & butter liquid. Turn the steak every few minutes to distribute the meat juices through the whole steak.
Place a saute pan on a high heat , add some of the olive oil and butter mixture, and saute the diced onion until translucent, then add the wild mushrooms and fry over a high heat. Run your fingers through the 2 sprigs of thyme and let the leaves fall into the mushrooms. Add the cream and simmer the sauce until the cream has reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper, and you are ready to go.
Top Tip: “I usually squeeze some juice from half a lemon over the steaks, give it one more turn and the steaks are ready to go. And if you really want to pimp the sauce up, then add some more of the juice that is left from the meat resting liquid. You are now ready to plate your 4 dishes and open your second Bottle of Wildekrans Barrel Select Reserve Shiraz.”
