Poached Fillet of Beef on a Cauliflower Cheese Puree

Poaching is a great way of cooking meat but for some reason not many people think of doing it. Perhaps it’s because they think that we’re boiling all of the flavour away; nothing could be further from the truth!

This recipe is a variation on one I saw on TV a year or so ago and have to say tastes delicious. It’s also a great way to use up all the ingredients I bought for this months “In The Bag” seasonal food blogging event, being held by Julia over at A Slice of Cherry Pie!

To recap quickly, the ingredients for this month’s bag are watercress, feta cheese and jersey royal potatoes.  The game is kind of like “Ready Steady Cook” – we choose ‘em, you cook ‘em.

You’ll have to excuse the small, low resolution photograph. I cooked this one round at my parent’s house a few weeks ago and didn’t take my camera (not that my photography is great at the best of times – it still tasted great though, honest). Just one tweak necessary though; I used feta cheese as per the ITB bag – but would recommend a mature white cheddar, instead.

The recipe itself is so simple…Just boil the chopped up cauliflower with half an onion until soft, drain and then puree with a little butter and cream.  Meanwhile the fillet steak is poached for 10 minutes in a good red wine, and then served atop the cauliflower cheese.

You can adorn the dish with whatever vegetables you want, but of course I had to go seasonal and chose watercress (always great with beef anyway), some carrots that were lying around and jersey royal potatoes.  For simplicity I ladled some of the poaching wine into a saucepan, stirred in a good knob of butter and seasoned.  Reduce by about 1/3 until thickened and serve.

It ain’t haute cuisine but it sure tastes good!

Related Posts:

1. In The Bag: January 2010 Detox Edition
2. ITB: Christmas 09 Roundup (and being under ice)
3. In The Bag: Christmas 09 Special
4. In The Bag March Roundup
5. Fish Pie Recipe

 Tags: in the bag, itb, poached fillet steak, seasonal food

Filed under: Meat & Fish.
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