Sous Vide Beef Fillet with a sweet onion puree, Pomme Anna, Crunch Bacon crumb, Caramelised Carrot and mushroom, with a Beef Jus

Sous Vide Beef Fillet

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

400 grams Beef Fillet

500 ml beef stock

2 whole Shallots sliced

2 whole large white onions peeled and cut into large chunks

350 grams Butter

4 whole maris piper potatoes

2 whole Rosemary sprigs

2 sprigs Thyme

2 whole cloves of garlic

250 grams streaky smoked bacon

1 bunch baby carrots

2 tablespoons Honey

1 bunch watercress

1 pinch Salt

3 teaspoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS

For the Pomme Anna:

Melt 200g Butter with rosemary, thyme and 2 garlic cloves and allow flavours to infuse. Peel the potatoes and slice as thinly as you can, then pour the melted butter on top and mix well. Layer the sliced potatoes in a deep tray, seasoning each layer as you go. Once the tray is full, cover with foil and cook for 1 1/2 hours and 165 degrees C, or until the potatoes are cooked all the way through. Once cooked, place a tray on top that just fits into the larger tray and distribute weights on top. Leave overnight in the fridge to press and set

Beef Gravy:

Gently fry off the shallots and garlic with small knob of butter until soft. Turn the heat up to high and add the red wine. Once with is reduced by half, add the lamb stock and simmer for one hour and allow to reduce by half again. Pass through a sieve and put back onto the heat before serving.

Beef Fillet:

To prepare the beef, remove any fat from the fillet. Firmly and neatly tie butchers’ string around the beef at 1/2cm intervals to hold the shape of the fillet. Cut into 150g portions and place each portion into a vac Pac bag. Seal on full vacuum and cook in a water bath at 55°C for 30 minutes. This can be put to one side. Before serving, fry the beef in a hot pan for 4 minutes until it is brown on all sides. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Sweet Onion Puree:

Placed the onion, 100g butter and 100g sugar into a pan and cover with water. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes until the onions are very soft. Add to a blender and mix until smooth, add more of the cooking liquor if needed. Season to taste. Refrigerate, and can be reheated when ready to serve.

Bacon Crumb:

Simply cook the bacon on greaseproof paper in the oven for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C until dark brown. Allow to cool and harden, and either blend the bacon so it breaks into a crumb, or shop with a fine knife. Place the crumb onto a tray and bake for a further 10 minutes at 160degrees for added crunch.

Carrots:

Blanch the carrots in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then add to icy cold water. Just before serving, add 50g butter and honey into a pan and allow to foam. Add the carrot and cook until nice and caramelised.

Mushrooms:

Gently fry the mushroom in oil and a small knob of butter for 5 minutes.

For plating:

Cut the pomme anna in to a rectangular shape and place into the oven for 5 minutes to re – heat. Meanwhile, place some to the warmed onion puree into the centre of the plate. Plate the Beef Fillet, which should have been rested at this point, stood upright, to one side of the plate. Sprinkle some of the bacon crumb along the middle. Place the mushrooms and carrot around the plate. The pomme anna should go on the opposite side of the to the beef. Garnish with the gravy and pieces of watercress.