Black Angus Seared Rib Eye, with Truffle Mash, Port Jus and a Parmesan Tuille

Big, bold and oh so good.  If you like steak, you’re going to absolutely love this

• A great big Rib Eye Fillet, bone on (I used a Black Angas cut, but any type of Rib Eye will be fine
• Salt & Pepper
• 3 Coliban Potatoes
• 150ml of double cream
• Fresh Black Truffle
• Unsalted Butter
• Packet of Snow Pea Sprouts
• Olive Oil
• Block of Parmesan
• 1 cup of Tawny Port, or Red Wine
• 1 cup of Beef stock
• A shallot

This is a big and simple dish, where the flavour of the beef is the hero, and the rest of the meal is designed to accompany the meat and make it a complete meal.  This is the dish I made at my MasterChef audition which got a pretty good result…

First of all, make sure your steak is at room temperature before you cook it, and if you want to get really fancy, you can “French” the bone (essentially scrape any flesh, fat or cartilage off the bone with a knife) to make the final presentation a bit more fancy pants.  Rub both sides of the steak with some olive oil, and season well, once again on both sides with salt and pepper and set aside.

Turn your oven on to 180 degrees.

Peel your spuds, cut them into quarters and place them into a pot of salted, cold water.  Putting the potatoes into cold water, and bringing the temperature up ensures they cook evenly and consistently.  Give them around 10 minutes at boiling temperature, and you should be right.  Drain them in a colander, chuck them back in the pot, and either using a masher, or if you are a bit laa dee daa, a potato ricer, mash the potatoes.

For the Jus, get your shallot, and finely dice it.  Place the diced shallots into a pot, with the cup of stock, and port, bring to a boil, immediately drop the temperature down to a simmer and let the mix reduce by over half its volume.  This could take up to 20-25 minutes.

Get a pan, or an iron griddle plate nice and hot.  Place the steak, let it sizzle and smoke up, and seal the steak for three minutes on each side.  The natural sugars in the meat will caramelise, melt in to the salt and pepper and form a crust on the steak.  With 30 or so seconds left of cooking on the second side, drop a cube of butter in the pan and slide the steak around so it soaks up the flavour.  Tilt the pan towards you and spoon some of the melted butter on the top of the steak.  This is called basting if you want to earn extra points on “Words with Friends….”  Once done, take the steak out of the pan, place it on a baking tray and chuck it in your pre-heated oven and cook for 15 minutes.  (Perfect for a nice thick steak, cooked medium to medium rare.  Please note that thick cut eye filet should be cooked medium, as there is some connective tissue towards the bone that needs to break down in the cooking process.  If you want rare or medium rare steak, pick another cut of steak like a scotch fillet or porterhouse and something with a good fat marble, like a Waygu.)

Get a second tray out, place some baking paper on it, and grate a nice oval shaped pile of Parmesan.  Place this in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or once its melted golden.  Take it out and let it cool, it should set like a chip.  Wow, you just made a Parmesan tuille.

Now that you have freed up a burner, get a pot, place the cream and 50g of butter in it, and gently melt the butter and cream together, bringing it up to heat, but don’t let it boil.  Once melted and heated up, pour the butter and cream into the mashed potatoes and stir, or whisk, briskly to get a nice smooth mash.  Get your truffle out, and using a grater or a microplane, grate a good tablespoon of truffle into the mash.  Season with salt and pepper, give it a taste and bask in the glory of one of the best mashed spuds you’ll ever taste, just don’t think of the calories.  Chuck a lid on the bowl to keep the mash warm.

Take your steak out of the oven, and rest it on a board for 8 minutes.  Exactly.

Now, take a good knob of butter and stir it through you Port reduction.  This will give it a nice gloss.

Get a plate, place a big dollop of your Truffle mash in the centre, place your rested steak, on top, and drizzle the Jus over and around the steak.  Place your tuille in a cheffy manner in the mash, place some of the sprouts on top, and for one final act of indulgence, drizzle a little olive oil and grate some more of the Truffle on the steak.

Done.

You can also add some steamed asparagus too if you want some greens on your plate.