Beef Recipes, Recipes, Stocks & Sauces

Chateaubriand recipe w/ bone marrow & watercress sauce

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Welcome spring’s return with this delicious chateaubriand recipe, accompanied by crispy crumbs on bone marrow and the velvety smoothness of fresh watercress sauce. Watercress sauce is a very easily made accompaniment. The recipe consists of a little sautéed shallot and garlic to which a little chicken stock is added before blitzing it to velvety smoothness with fresh watercress, crème fraîche, a little Dijon mustard, and seasoning. Experience the tender succulence of chateaubriand, perfectly paired with the rich depth of bone marrow and the vibrant freshness of watercress. Top tip when buying watercress; look for crisp, dark green leaves for a distinctly deep, peppery flavour.

Serves 2 hungry humans

Ingredients

Method

  1.  Turn on the oven to 180°C fan.
  2. Mix the crumbs and herbs together, season then add the walnuts, fennel seeds, lemon zest and juice, capers, garlic and an enthusiastic grind of black pepper.
  3. Warm the oil in a frying pan then add the crumbs, and now gently fry, moving the crumb regularly to avoid burning. Thew lemon juice needs cooking out before the crumbs will start to crisp. The crumbs will start to dry out after 8-9 minutes or so.
  4. Cook the shallot In the butter until soft.  Add the stock and reduce by half.
  5. Add the watercress to a blender with the mustard and crème fraîche and stock. Blitz until smooth.
  6. Return the sauce through a fine sieve to the pot to be used when needed.
  7. Season the chateaubriand and cook in a hot pan to brown then transfer to the oven and cook to medium (53°C core temperature) and leave to rest before slicing.
  8. In a separate pan, season the bone marrow and cook in the oven and after 10-minutes pile on the crumbs and cook for another 10-minutes.
  9. Stir the leaked juices into the watercress sauce.
  10. Warm the sauce and spoon into the middle of a warm plate. Place the sliced beef on top of the sauce and the roast bone marrow along the side.

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Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.