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!
