Merci pour un merveilleux dîner hier soir!
We had our dear friends Ayako & Nico partake in a bit of Eggness last night. They took up the offer of “we’ll bring the meat and you grill it” concept! Ayako showed up with 5 fillet mignon cuts from Huber’s Butchery that were absolutely gorgeous. What we did to them was even better. Now, admittedly I like to photo-document the whole process of making dinner. Last night, no way, there was just simply too much to do and timing was critical so we can only feature the finished product photos.
The feast included cedar planked fillet mignon (1.5 ” beef fillets) covered with blue cheese topping, twice-baked potatoes with smoked gouda and grilled scallions, and a carrot salad that Ayako simply couldn’t get enough of! The last piece was Roman’s fist attempt at Choux Pastry – homemade chocolate eclairs using Raymond Blanc’s recipe.
Here’s what we did, first the fillet:
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
6 tablespoons blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped and from our new herb garden
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
6 – 6-8 oz. beef fillets (from Huber’s of course!)
1 tablespoon Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 – 15” Fire & Flavor Cedar Grilling Plank, soaked
Combine breadcrumbs through olive oil to form a paste and set aside. Rub steaks generously with Montreal Steak Seasoning blend on all sides. Allow steaks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes; meanwhile preheat grill to 450-500°.
Sear beef on hot grill for 60-90 seconds on each side. Reduce grill temperature to 350°, place soaked plank on grill and close lid. Heat for 3 minutes; using tongs, flip plank and place seared beef fillets on heated side of plank. Top each fillet with an equal amount of the breadcrumb topping.
Grill, with lid closed, for 12-16 minutes or until desired doneness is reached. If using a meat thermometer (and we were using Roman’s favorite gift) the beef temperature should reach 145° for medium rare and 160° for medium well. Remove plank and beef from grill and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
The twice baked potatoes with smoked gouda & grilled scallions:
5 medium sized potatoes
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and ground pepper
8 tbsp of unsalted butter
1.5 cups of grated smoked gouda cheese
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1 tbsp of BBQ rub (use your favorite rub!)
1/4 cup of fresh scallions
Cover each “tattie” with olive oil, pierce holes in them with a fork and season with kosher salt. Wrap each potato in aluminium foil and chuck them on the grid for 30 minutes at 400 F. Flip for another 30 minutes then remove the potatoes and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
Unwrap each of the hot potatoes and cut them in half, lengthwise. Scoop out the goodness but leave a bit of flesh around the sides and bottom of each shell. Place the scooped out goodness in a mixer bowl and add the butter and 1 cup of the grated smoked gouda.
Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan for about 2 minutes then add the BBQ rub and the scallions. Once combined, add the mixture to the mixing bowl that contains the potato guts.
Beat the mixture on medium until it combines into a fluffy mess of yumminess! Season with S&P however I found that the smoked gouda was salty enough. A good helping of pepper helped nicely!
Spoon the mixture back into the shells and top each one with the remaining half cup of smoked gouda cheese.
Pop the potatoes back on the grid and heat for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese on top is nicely melted.
Carrot Salad (easy one for you to recreate Aya!)
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
2 tablespoons pistachios
2 tablespoons dried blueberries
Combine carrot, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, pistachios, and blueberries in a small bowl, toss to coat. Season to taste.
Finally the dessert: here’s the link and good luck because this took me two tries to get it to an OK standard. Heather is grinning as she could have knocked this out way better than I ever could! http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/09/raymond-blanc-chocolate-clair-recipe
All in all, a great meal with great friends, who could ask for anything more? And with the blue cheese topping on the fillets, Heather’s comment this morning was that the beef was probably the best we’ve ever had on the Egg! All well worth it!
Merci bien! Roman
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Comments