I’ve always been a fan of the eye fillet/béarnaise sauce combination, but last year I was having dinner at a little French bistro in the Blue Mountains called Le Gobelet. On their menu is the Chateaubriand, a thick cut from the tenderloin of the beef carefully prepared and served with BOTH a red wine jus and a béarnaise sauce, designed for 2 people to share.

It was a sensational feed. The tenderness of the eye fillet, the intensity of the red wine jus and the decadence of the béarnaise makes this dish one truly worth savouring.

So here is my reverse engineered recipe with great thanks to the husband and wife team who run Le Gobelet!

Serves 2

1 Whole Beef Eye Fillet, about 500-600 grams, enough to feed 2 people

500 ml good quality Veal Stock*

1 teaspoon of sugar

300 ml red wine, whatever you are drinking

1 sprig of fresh rosemary (optional)

* For the Veal Stock, I highly recommend the Moredough Kitchens Premium Veal Stock which you can get from David Jones Food Halls, Harris Farm Markets, some butchers and delis. If you can’t find Veal Stock, you can use 250ml of good quality beef stock mixed with 250ml chicken stock (don’t use stock cubes).

 

 

 

 

For the Bearnaise Sauce

½ finely chopped eschalot (the small pickling onions)
80 ml water
20 ml tarragon vinegar**
a pinch of cracked black pepper
A good tablespoon fresh chopped tarragon leaves
2 egg yolks
125g butter

**You can get tarragon vinegar from Harris Farm Markets, David Jones Food Hall and some Delis. If you can’t find it you can easily make it yourself, just follow this recipe.
 

Eye fillet can be an expensive cut to buy from the butchers, however Harris Farm Markets and Glenmore Meat Co often sell the whole long fillet for anywhere between $30 and $50 which will give you enough to feed 4 or 5 people easily.

Why is it so cheap? Because you get the whole muscle and they have not spent any labour on trimming it up for you.

There is a great You Tube Video here from some butchers in Queensland who show you step by step how to trim your whole eye fillet and turn it from this ...

 

Into this ...

I’ve cut mine into 2 pieces to make it easier to manage (and I'm only feeding 2 people).

Once they are timmed, you can roll them in glad wrap to help keep the shape and freeze one for next time.

1.       First make the Red Wine Jus - it will keep while you are preparing everything else. Take a medium sized sauce pan and put in the veal stock, sugar and rosemary. Place over a medium heat and let it bubble away for about 20 mins.

 

2.       Next add the red wine, lower the heat and let it simmer away for another 20 mins. Take it off the heat, discard the rosemary and warm it back up just before serving.

 

3.       Pre Heat your oven to about 120C – we want to slow cook the beef to keep it nice and tender.

 

4.       Tie your beef at 2 inch intervals with kitchen string to help it keep its shape. Rub over some good quality olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

 

5.       Take a heavy based fry pan, heat it over a medium heat (make sure its nice and hot). Add a little more olive oil and sear the beef on all sides until nice and brown, only a couple of minutes per side.

 

6.       If your fry pan is oven safe (has a metal handle etc) then place the whole thing in the oven, otherwise transfer the beef to a baking dish and drop it in the oven that way.

 

7.       Roast the beef for about 45 mins and it should come up a nice pink medium/medium rare.

 

8.       When the beef is ready, remove it from the oven and cover with foil and a tea towel, you want to let it rest for AT LEAST 20 minutes before carving.

 

Now its time to make the bearnaise sauce!

 

To make the béarnaise sauce you will need to create a double-boiler or bain-marie. To do this all you need is a saucepan and a steel mixing bowl that are about the same size. Place some water in the saucepan, sit the mixing bowl on top and place over a medium heat (you want the water to simmer, not boil). Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the mixing bowl or your sauce will curdle. 

1.       Place the eschalot, water, vinegar and pepper into a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the liquid has been reduced to about 2 tablespoons (approx 10 mins).

 

2.       Strain the liquid into a stainless steel, flat bottomed mixing bowl and let it cool slightly.

 

3.       Beat in the egg yolks and whisk lightly to combine.

 

4.       Place your mixing bowl over the saucepan on a medium heat and whisk until thick and smooth, rotating the bowl to ensure even cooking.

 

5.       Allow the yolk mixture to cool until it is just warm; the butter should be about the same temperature.

1.       Warm your Jus back up on the stove.

 

2.       Mix in the butter and fresh tarragon into the bearnaise sauce and if required place back over the saucepan to warm it back up.

 

3.       Your beef should be well rested by now. Cut off the string and carve into thick slices.

 

4.       Arrange the beef on a serving platter

 

5.       Spoon over some Jus

 

6.       Spoon over some Bearnaise

 

7.       Enjoy