Chef Flower's Ambrosial Beef on a Bed of Adorned Trimmings

Submitted by Chef floWer

"Ambrosial Beef On Bed Of Mash Potatoes, Spinach And Pancetta, served with a Red Wine Sauce. This is a perfect main meal for every day consumption, special romantic dinner for two or for Valentines Day. Serving Size can change for a larger party. I chose to use filet of beef but you could use any tenderloin section of the beef. It would need a thick cut of about two inches/five cms thick and weights about 8.8 ounce /250 grams each. Made for RSC #11 Contest."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 23
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• Bottom Layer

• 1 1⁄4 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
• water
• 1⁄4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 tablespoon asiago cheese or 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
• 1 pinch white pepper (to taste)

• Middle Layer

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1⁄2 shallot, sliced
• 2 cups spinach (Baby Spinach Variety)
• 1⁄8 ground cayenne pepper
• olive oil flavored cooking spray
• 4 slices pancetta

• Top Layer

• 2 (8 7/8 ounce) filet of beef
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• salt
• black pepper, freshly cracked

• Sauce

• 1⁄2 cup red wine
• 1⁄2 cup low sodium chicken broth or 1/2 cup low sodium beef broth
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1⁄2 shallot, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon raspberry preserves
• 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked (to taste)

directions

1. Peel potatoes then cut them in quarters. Place them in a saucepan and cover the potatoes with water. Boil for about 15/20 minutes or until soft.
2. Once potatoes are ready, drain them and place them in a mixing bowl, using a potato masher utensil, mash potatoes, then add milk slowly, add butter, cheese and white pepper, mash until potato is still thick but slightly creamy. Set aside until later.
3. Sauce: In a separate bowl add red wine, stock and flour, mix until flour has mixed into the liquid and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan, add shallots and cook until transparent. Add wine, stock and flour mixture, bring to boil and add raspberry preserves and black pepper, mix well. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or when the sauce has reduced three times it volume, don't forget to mix occasionally.
4. Heat a large griddle pan or frying pan. Rub olive oil on to the beef fillet, then sprinkle salt and pepper and cook until charred and done to your liking.
5. With about three minutes for the beef to be completed, cook pancetta. To do this add a little olive oil spray to the pan (either the same pan as beef or different pan). Cook for about a minute and half each side or until slightly crunchy.
6. With about two minutes for beef to be cooked, cook spinach. First add some butter to the pan (either the same pan the beef is cooking or you could use another pan), once butter has melted add shallots until transparent but not brown, add baby spinach and cayenne pepper, just allow the spinach to slightly wilt.
7. Once everything has cooked, start serving. Serve half of the potatoes in each plate, make sure it is in the centre of the plate. Serve half each of the baby spinach on top of the potato. Then serve two slices each of pancetta on top of the spinach, serve beef on top of the pancetta. Using a spoon serve red wine sauce, either on top of the beef or around the mash potato.
8. Enjoy.

Reviews

[Kim127]

We really loved the flavors of the steak, spinach and potatoes together. It all blended so nicely. The potatoes were just awesome! Really loved the addition of the asiago cheese to it (I did add a little extra because everyone knows you can never have enough chese). I had to sub proscuitto for the pancetta as I couldn't find any at the time. The shallots and cayenne pepper were terrific additions to the spinach layer. Only other change I made was to sprinkle our steaks with a little Mrs. Dash and then grilled them. I have to say the sauce was good, but I could just as well do without.

 

[Andi Longmeadow Farm]

As per(fect) any recipe you try of Chef floWer's this one stands out as all of them do. This week had been a terribly busy, and hustle bustle week on the farm. We were, quite frankly; exhausted. Vegetables are going in, greenhouses full to brim, planting, and seeding of fields were being worked, the normal bustle of a farm in early Spring. I happened to be growing some young spinach in the greenhouse, had a beauty of rib steak in the freezer and pancetta to be used up. The night before I had made mashed potato, so when I saw this recipe how could I not grab it right of the *PRMR* shelf? I am so glad I did, I made one small change, and that was to use some grape jam that I had prepared earlier in the year as I was out raspberry. But other then that I stayed absolutely true to this recipe. Oh yes, I did add some red onion to the top of the steak just for presentation. This was outstanding, and already Dennis has asked for it again. Totally buttery, juicy and all the taste just melted together like one huge buttery taste of Spring. Thank you so very much, my friend, Chef floWer. We loved it!