Roast Scotch Fillet Beef and side dishes

Main Dinner Party Dish

Serves 6

Serve with 2019 Bloodwood Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon or Maurice

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg scotch fillet (at room temperature)

• salt and pepper to taste

• 2T approximately olive oil

• 2T Dijon Mustard

• 8 spring onions, roots removed, then washed clean to form a base for the fillet

Sauce:

• 1 glass of red wine

• 1T Worcestershire sauce

• 1 packet of beef stock (I use Stock Merchants)

• 2T Dijon mustard

• Combined juices from the pan and roasting tray

• 50g of cold butter (to emulsify and finish he sauce)

• Use with cups of water to de-glaze, pan and the roasting tray

Method:

Initial searing

Rub with olive oil so that the meat is covered. Lightly dust with salt and pepper.

Heat a pan then pour in some olive oil which helps prevent your meat from sticking to the pan. Sear the meat all over which develops a nice crust before roasting.

Roast in the oven at 100 degrees C

Place the meat on a roasting tray also covered which has been smeared with olive oil and paint the meat entirely in Dijon mustard. Place the meat on top of the spring onions then slide it into the oven.

Cook as follows - a 1.5 kg scotch fillet roast cooked at 100°C will take approximately 75-90 minutes to reach medium-rare, with an internal temperature of 55-60°C. This is a general guideline, and it's recommended to use a meat thermometer to ensure accuracy.

Transfer the meat to a separate plate for about 20 mins covering it with foil. Thicker slices would be better for presentation, juiciness and heat retention.

Making the sauce

Deglaze the residue in the saute pan over medium heat by first adding the red wine. After the alcohol is burned off, add the Worcestershire sauce, stock, Dijon mustard and whisk until the mustard is absorbed within the liquid. Include the juices that pool at the bottom of the roasting tray. Add water to get those stubborn baked on brown bits off to add to the mix while you are resting the meat. Gently simmer the liquid to get to a syrupy consistency. To finish the concentrated sauce take it off the heat and stir in the cold butter to enrich it. Serve this underneath the steak.

Shortcuts: Buy an exotic meat pie from you best bakery

Tea Smoked Butternut Pumpkin side dish

It’s been ages since I smoked anything using tea. I was pleased a plethora of pumpkins came up in our vegie patch this year. As we want to serve our offering of lovely 2019 reds with this dish I was looking to support the savooury flavours that have developed in these wines. Some umami element was needed as young pumpkins can be quite sweet. I thought tea smoking the pumpkin could be just the thing, and it was.

Obviusly good ventilation is a given.

Serve with any or all of our reds in this offer

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut pumpkin (cut in half lengthways and de-seeded. Skin left on.)

• 1 cup of tea leaves (I used an aromatic green leaf tea)

• 1 cup raw sugar

• 1 cup of brown rice

• 2T olive oil

• 1 T butter

• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Smoking:

Engage your extractor fan

Put the tea, raw sugar and brown rice mixed evenly in the bottom of an alfoil lining of your wok or saucepan. Suspend a cake rack on top of the wok and place the halved pumpkin cut surface facing down. Heat until the mixture starts to smoulder. Cover it with the lid for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the lid on for another 5 minutes. The smoky pumpkin will be par cooked.

Finishing the pumpkin

Microwave the pumpkin halves for 10 mins. Cut into lengthway slices. Depending on the capacity of your oven you may not have room to roast the slices, you can finish it off on the stove top. Cover a pan with a mix of Olive oil and butter, salt and pepper. Add the long slices of pumpkin to saute both sides over a medium heat. OR place in an 180 degree C oven and roast until done.

Shortcuts

Toast some tea leaves in a dry pan, let them cool, add a pinch of salt and crush in a mortar and pestle. Sprinkle a dusting of this over the pumpkin before roasting.

Saffron Potato Bake

This one had no cheese and didn’t really need it but you could if you wanted to add grated Grana Padano or Comte.

Serve with Bloodwood reds offer

Ingredients:

• 6 large Pontiac potatoes (cut thinly. I use a mandolin)

• butter lined baking dish

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

• 2 shallots (finely chopped)

• 3/4 cup milk (or chicken stock) and 3/4 cup runny cream

• 6 stamens of saffron (I used our local Millthorpe stash)

Method:

Pre-cook in microwaveable bowl

I give my sliced potatoes, milk, shallots, garlic, salt and pepper mix a head start by putting them in a deep bowl and cooking them uncovered on high heat for 10 minutes. Half way through give it a good stir to ensure that it cooks evenly. Warm the cream in the microwave and mix through with the 6 saffron strands. The partially cooked potatoes will have settled down and are now easily accommodated in the baking dish. Make sure the top potato slices are covered enough not to dry out.

Finish

Bake in the dish in the oven until the topping is nice and browned.

Shortcuts: Replace the saffron with a pinch or two of smoked paprika.

Spinach and Leek Emulsion

This mix provides some greens and is in place of a chimi --churri or a Bearnaise sauce or mushrooms. Ideally it would be a creamy sauce but there is already enough cream in the potato bake so the dish doesn’t need any more.

Serve with the recommended offer

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of baby spinach leaves, (rinsed clean)

• 3 whole leeks, (,cleaned and cut into slivers)

• 2T olive oil and

• 1T of butter

• salt and pepper to taste

• (reserve those cooked spring onions from underneath the beef)

Method:

Saute the leeks with some salt and pepper until they are soft. Then add the baby spinach and cook it until it wilts.

Add the butter and it will melt in the residual heat. Puree this mix with the cooked spring onions from the beef.

Serve a heaped teasspoon mixture on each plate.