Beef Fillet with Creamy Tahini Sauce
Introduction
Serves: 8
Ingredients
1 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt
1 clove garlic
Flaky sea salt
¼ cup tahini (sesame paste)
Beef Fillet
1kg (2.2 lb) piece trimmed fillet of beef, of an even thickness
2 Tbsp olive oil
Flaky sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp full-bodied red wine
Method
1 Make the tahini sauce first. Drain the yoghurt for 30 minutes in a sieve lined with paper towels set over a bowl; reserve whey. Peel garlic and crush to a paste on a board with ¼ teaspoon of sea salt. Beat tahini in a bowl until smooth, add garlic and mix in drained yoghurt. Beat in enough reserved whey (or add water) to thin the mixture to a spoon-able sauce. Cover and chill (the sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance; mix well before serving).
2 Have the fillet at room temperature (extremely important or cooking time will be out). Preheat oven to 210°C (425°F), setting a shelf in the middle of the oven. Tie the fillet into a good shape with string to stop it curling up (that would make slicing difficult). If it is moist, pat dry with paper towels to minimize spitting.
3 Heat the oil in a shallow roasting tin or a shallow cast iron casserole or similar vessel over a medium-high heat. When the oil is nice and hot, lower in the fillet and turn it quickly with tongs in the hot oil, then let it brown on one side for 2 minutes. Turn fillet over again and immediately transfer to a hot oven. Cook for 6 minutes, remove from oven, turn fillet over again and return it to the oven. For rare to medium-rare meat, cook for a further 5-6 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat reaches 50°C (122°F), or until you are satisfied with the ‘touch test’ (springy when medium-rare), or until it is done to your liking. Remove meat from oven, spoon over any juices, then season generously on all sides with salt and grind over pepper to taste. Rest beef for 12-15 minutes or leave to cool to room temperature.
4 Remove string from meat, then slice it evenly (thickly if meat is hot, thinly if meat is at room temperature). Rest meat a minute or two before transferring to a heated serving platter. Season again with sea salt. Skim pan juices, pour in wine and let it bubble up briefly. Spoon juices over meat and serve immediately with accompaniments.
Recipe notes
If you have reasonable knife skills it’s cheaper to buy an untrimmed fillet (buy a piece about 1.5 kg / 3.3 lb). Remove silverskin (thin tough membrane) and fat and cut off the scraggly end (reserve for a stir-fry) and cut through the fat end to give you a fillet roughly the same thickness; use trimmed piece for steaks.
