Colm O'Gorman: Butter is the secret ingredient in this fabulous fillet steak with roasted root veg

Served with a fresh, sharp, herby chimichurri, this steak dinner is very special.

Butter really does make most things taste better, and this is certainly true for this week’s recipe which really elevates a steak dinner. 

Basting a very good steak in foamy melted butter, garlic and fresh thyme for the last few minutes of cooking adds bags of flavour. 

Root vegetables are then roasted until they are perfectly cooked, sweet and a little caramelised, and then tossed in brown butter made in the same pan that you used to cook the steaks. Fabulous.

Fillet steak with roasted root veg

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Served with a fresh, sharp, herby chimichurri, this steak dinner is very special.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Roast Vegetables:

• 250g carrots

• 250g parsnips

• 250g sweet potato

• 2 red onions

• 4 cloves garlic

• 2 bay leaves

• A few sprigs of fresh thyme

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• Ground black pepper

• A good splash of extra virgin olive oil

• Steaks:

• 4 fillet steaks

• A generous knob of butter

• 2 cloves garlic

• A few sprigs of fresh thyme

• Chimichurri:

• 35g fresh parsley

• 15g fresh coriander

• ½ tsp dried oregano

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 small shallots

• 1 red or green chilli

• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 75ml extra virgin olive oil

• 1tsp flaky sea salt

Method

1. Take the steaks out of the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes while you get on with preparing and cooking the roast vegetables.

2. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius. Wash and peel the carrots, parsnips and the sweet potato. Top and tail the carrots and the parsnips and cut all three vegetables into large chunks, about 5cm is perfect. Peel and cut the red onion into quarters.

3. Pop all the prepared vegetables into a roasting tin along with the bay leaves, the whole unpeeled garlic cloves and the leaves from the sprigs of thyme. Toss the vegetables in a good splash of olive oil and season with flaky sea salt.

4. Roast the vegetables for 30-40 minutes until they cooked though and starting to caramelise.

5. When your vegetables have about ten minutes left to go, cook the steaks.

6. Dry the steaks off by patting them with some kitchen paper and season with just a little flaky sea salt. Get a heavy based non-stick pan or griddle very hot over a high heat. If you are cooking ribeye steaks, you do not need any oil as the steaks have plenty of fat, but fillet steaks have a lot less, so add a tiny amount of olive oil to the pan, just enough to lightly coat the surface. If you use too much oil it will inhibit the development of a lovely, seared crust on the steak. Pop on the steaks and cook for two minutes until they are beautifully seared with a nice crust on one side.

7. Flip them over and cook for another two minutes. Now reduce the heat to medium and add a generous knob of butter, three peeled and lightly crushed cloves of garlic and a sprig of fresh thyme to the pan. When the butter starts to foam, tilt the pan towards you and use a spoon to baste the steaks in butter and the cooking juices from the steak. Keep basting the steaks for another few minutes until they are cooked to your preference. If you have a meat thermometer, use that to check the internal temperature of the steaks.

8. I like my steaks medium rare, so I want to get the final internal temperature to around fifty-five degrees Celsius. For a rare steak, aim for forty-five to fifty degrees, for medium go for sixty and for well done, seventy degrees. Take the steaks off the pan when they are a few degrees shy of the temperature you want and then let them rest for at least five minutes before serving. Season with some fresh ground black pepper at this stage. Resting the steak after you take it off the pan is critical. It allows the juices in the meat to redistribute throughout the steak. If you cut into the steak straight off the pan, all those juices, and all that lovely flavour, will flow out and be lost.

9. While the steaks are resting, start on the chimichurri. Finely chop the herbs, shallots, and chilli. Grate the garlic. Combine in a bowl in a bowl along with the red wine vinegar and set aside.

10. Pop the pan that you used to cook the steaks back on the heat and add another generous knob of butter. Let that melt and when it begins to foam, swirl it around the pan over the heat until the foam and the butter underneath beings to turn golden brown. Turn off the heat and stir the pan to make sure you lift off all those lovely juices from the steaks and get them combined with the brown butter. Remove and discard the garlic and the thyme.

11. Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven and pour over the brown butter. Toss the roast vegetables to coat them thoroughly and taste to check the seasoning. Add a little more salt and some ground black pepper if required.

12. To finish the chimichurri, add the olive oil, stir, and taste. Add a little more salt if needed.

13. Serve the steaks with some chimichurri drizzled over the top, with lots of roast vegetables on the side.