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Looking for a flavour-packed beef dish for your next dinner party? Sophie Hansen has you sorted with her recipe for roasted eye fillet with quince glaze and parsnip and onion puree.
Roasted eye fillet with quince glaze and parsnip and onion purée
I usually make this with a fillet of venison from our own farm here in Orange (if you’d like to do the same, reduce the cooking time to 10 minutes after the browning stage – venison, being such a lean meat, needs a faster cooking time). It’s my family’s special occasion dish; we have it for birthday dinners or when we want to really showcase the beautiful delicate flavour and tender texture of the meat we produce. I know that venison isn’t always easy to source, so here we have a beef fillet from our fantastic local butcher (hello, Michael!), which is also just beautiful
Ingredients
- 800 g beef eye fillet
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
- 3 anchovy fillets
- 80 ml olive oil
- 250 ml white wine
- 2 tablespoons quince paste
Parsnip and onion purée
- 40 g butter
- 2 brown onions roughly chopped
- 1 kg parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups 500ml gluten-free chicken or vegetable stock
Instructions
- Put the beef on a large plate. Combine the garlic, thyme, anchovy fillets and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small bowl and mash with a fork to make a rough paste. Rub the paste all over the beef, then loosely wrap with a clean, damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- For the parsnip and onion purée, heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onion for about 8 minutes or until completely soft and cooked through. Add the parsnip and salt and cook for another minute or so. Pour in the stock, cover and cook for 25 minutes or until the parsnip is completely tender. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and blitz to a smooth purée. Keep the purée warm until serving, or pop it into the fridge and reheat it when needed.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the remaining olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan and brown the beef all over, about 6 minutes on each side or until really well sealed. Put the pan in the oven for 20 minutes or until the beef is cooked to your liking. Transfer the beef to a chopping board, cover with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
- While the meat is resting, use the roasting juices to make the rich quince glaze. Put the pan over medium–high heat and pour in the wine. As it bubbles away, scrape up every little bit of flavoursome residue on the bottom of the pan. Once the wine has reduced by half, whisk the quince paste into the glaze. Thin out the glaze with a little water and season to taste. Strain the glaze into a jug and keep warm until serving.
Notes
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