There’s no combination like tender meat and tangy horseradish. Pan-fried fillet of beef with a creamy horseradish sauce is an instant classic thanks to these timeless flavours.
Cook’s notes:
- The fillet can be marinated and seared up to eight hours in advance and set aside, covered, until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before roasting.
- If you can’t get fresh horseradish, use 60ml (4T) prepared creamed or pickled horseradish. Make the sauce close to serving, as it will separate if left to stand for more than an hour or two.
- Verjuice is extracted from unripened grapes. It is naturally mildly acidic and can be used in cooking, as a condiment or to deglaze pans. Pink verjuice is made from unripe red grapes. You can use either normal verjuice or pink verjuice for this dish.
Pan-fried fillet of beef with a creamy horseradish sauce
Ingredients
- 1,6kg beef fillet, trimmed
Marinade
- 60ml (4T) Hamilton Russell Vineyards Extra-virgin Olive Oil
- 15ml (1T) dark soy sauce
- 15ml (1T) fresh lemon juice
- 15ml (1T) pink verjuice (see Cook’s notes)
- 15ml (1T) chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 3ml (½t) finely grated lemon rind
- creamy horseradish sauce
- 500ml (2 cups) fresh cream
- 75ml (5T) grated fresh horseradish
- 15ml (1T) hot English mustard
Instructions
Marinade method
Combine all the marinade ingredients. Place the fillet in a non-metallic dish, rub over the marinade and leave for at least 1 hour.
Heat a cast-iron griddle pan and sear the fillet on all sides to seal (the griddle marks should be very dark brown). Remove the fillet from the griddle pan.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the marinated fillet into a roasting pan or ovenproof dish. Place on the middle rack and cook for 10 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave for another 5 minutes.
Remove the fillet from the oven and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes. Slice into 8 steaks (±2cm thick) and serve accompanied by the sauce.
Creamy horseradish sauce method
In a small saucepan, scald the cream (heat to just below boiling).
Add the fresh horseradish and mustard and stir to combine.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately, or cover until needed, then reheat gently.
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