Peppered Fillet of Beef, Swiss Chard, Whisky Cream and Potato Wedges

Ingredients

Serves 4

Steaks and whisky cream

4 beef fillet steaks (about 175g each)

2 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed or ground

2 tbsp veg oil for frying

1 tbsp butter

4 tsp Dijon mustard

Maldon salt

50 ml whisky

4 tbsp beef stock

4 tbsp double cream

Potato wedges

500g potatoes

20ml olive Oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped

Swiss chard

250g chard

Salt and pepper

25g butter

1 clove garlic, finely sliced

Method

Potato wedges

Scrub the potatoes in running water. Peel and cut into wedges and place in a bowl. Rub in olive oil and garlic then cook in a hot oven at 200C for about 30 minutes.

Steaks

Rub the steaks with Dijon mustard until absorbed in then cover generously with freshly ground black pepper.

Sprinkle with salt at the last minute. Heat a frying pan and pour in the veg oil. When hot, place in the steaks. Cook for roughly 4 minutes on each side. Don’t move the steaks around in the pan. Add the butter. Turn once to cook the other side. Remove the steaks to a warm place to rest.

Whisky cream

Drain the fat out of the pan and add the whisky to the used pan and heat. The whisky will probably burst into flames – when it does flambé take the pan off the heat and let the alcohol burn off (if it worries you, slam on a lid). Add the stock, bring to the boil and add the cream. Leave to simmer for 5 -10 minutes, adding in any steak juices from the resting meat.

Swiss chard

For the chard, wash and dry the chard. Remove the stalks and cut into 10-cm pieces. Blanch the stalks and leaves separately in salted water for 4-5 minutes. Keep separate. Plunge the leaves into cold water to refresh – remove and dry off.

Heat the butter in a pan. Add the stalks and the finely sliced garlic and cook for a minute or two until browned. Remove. Add the leaves for a minute. Season and serve.

Serve

To serve, make a bed with the chard leaves, and place beef on top. Place chard stems at the side. Drizzle with whisky sauce. Serve the potato wedges in a side dish.