My Perfect Valentine's Day Meal - Fillet Steak in a Worcestershire Cream Sauce

This recipe is some 20 odd years old.  I know this because it was from a meal I had way before my eldest was born and he's now 19 and studying at University!  The story goes that my husband and I went out for dinner one night and I ordered a fillet steak in a Worcestershire Sauce from the menu.  It was sublime, so I asked for the recipe. Needless to say, Chef was more than a little reluctant to give away his recipe, but he did give me the list of ingredients, without the quantities, so I had to set about creating this myself.  I've 'toned it down' a little with the addition of cream it's a bit tangy for my daughter without, but either way this is one delicious dish.

If the way to a person's heart is really is via their stomach, then this surely is the way to get you there.

To create my Valentine's dish for 2 is as simple at this....

15ml Rapeseed oil (I recommend locally produced Farrington's Mellow Yellow)
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 Fillet steaks
50g Mushrooms, sliced
5ml Plain flour
1 Knorr Beef Stock Pot
125ml Boiling water
15ml Worcestershire Sauce
5ml Tomato puree
Salt and Pepper to taste
30ml Double cream

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan until it lightly shimmers.
2. Fry the onions until lightly golden in colour.
3. Add the fillet steak to the pan and braise the on both sides until cooked to your preference, then remove the steaks from the pan to rest.
4. Lightly fry the mushrooms until browned.
5. Dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water.
6. Add the flour to the frying pan and mix to absorb all of the oil.
7. Add the Worcestershire Sauce and tomato puree to the pan and mix.
8. Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed and no lumps are present.
9. Add the double cream and stir through.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Return the steak to the pan and heat through.
12. Serve.

I chose to serve our dinner with Potato Dauphinoise, Sweet Potato Fondant and roasted mixed vegetables. (Click on the links to take you to my recipes for these dishes).

I created this meal for the Central England Co-Operative.  I was sent a voucher with which to purchase my ingredients. All of the ingredients above were sourced from my local Co-Op.

Sweet Potato Fondant

This can be made easily with either sweet potato or normal potatoes, but I really love the added flavour that sweet potatoes bring to a meal and cooked this way is certainly no exception.  It's incredibly simple and incredibly tasty too.

15ml Rapeseed Oil (I recommend Farrington's Mellow Yellow)
50g Butter
1 large Sweet potato (enough for one or two slices per person)
1 Knorr Chicken stock pot, dissolved in
75ml Boiling water
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Peel the sweet potato.
2. Cut in to 2cm (1") thick rounds.
3. Heat the oil and the butter in a pan until the butter is foaming.
4. Add the sweet potatoes to the pan, flat side down and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown in colour.
5. Carefully add the stock to the pan (it may spit a little, so be careful).
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until tender and cooked through.
8. Serve with some of the cooking liquid spooned over the top.

To add a decorative element to your plate, why not try cutting the potatoes with a shaped metal cookie cutter?  Hearts and flowers for your loved one, or into a character for your children to make mealtimes interesting whilst still giving them one of their 5 a day.

This is the perfect vegetable accompaniment to so many meals and goes beautifully with my Valentine's Day menu of Fillet Steak in a Worcestershire Cream Sauce.

Enjoy! x

BBC Good Food Show, Winter 2013

I visited the BBC. good Food winter show last Saturday with 2 wonderful friends, Carmela Hayes & Julie Elliott. We are an awesome trio when we get together and last week was no exception!

Starting on the train to Birmingham with Pain aux Raisin for breakfast, we visited stands laden with cheese, crackers, olives, British oils (Duncan Farrington from Farrington's Mellow Yellow fame), spices, chocolate, coffee, gin (from the lovely guys at Warner Edwards), wine, pickles, chutneys and a myriad of other amazing ingredients.

We had 4th row tickets for the Super Theatre to see Paul Hollywood & Mary Berry demonstrate their recipes and were treated to a rather fabulous looking 'kitchen hand' who not only swept the floor, but also brushed Mary Berry down and tried to wipe the grey from Paul Hollywood's beard.

The kitchen hand was only Gino Di'Campo!!!!!!

At the end of a fabulous day we bumped into the lovely Urvashi Roe who recommended we visit the Barbers cheese stand (how did we miss this?!) I'm so glad we did as I entered a competition to win a hamper of cheese.

Well, blow me down with a feather because look what I won.....!

A HUGE, quality made wooden box.

Which when opened revealed a gorgeous quality apron.

And underneath the insulation and packaging a MASSIVE treasure trove of amazing cheese.  In fact over 3kg of their 24 month matured Vintage Cheddar Cheese.  Now I know this cheese is good stuff as I tasted some at the show, we had 'train snacks' of cheese on the way home and I bought 2 packs of it to bring home for the family to enjoy too.

How lucky am I?  Thank you to the Barber family for my generous prize. The wooden box will be kept for storage to remind me of your generosity.

Carrot Cake with lime & walnuts with an orange & mascarpone frosting

It’s is a cake recipe that I’ve made many a time, but tonight I decided to make it with a bit of a twist on the method & a couple of the ingredients, (just because I can & I wanted to see how it turned out). It’s a belated (3week late) birthday cake for my hubby, who I might add thought it tasted devine (as did the kids).

200ml Farringtons Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil
250g Light soft brown sugar
3 eggs, separated
150g Carrots, grated
10ml (2tbs) Lime juice
100g Walnuts, chopped, plus a few halves for decoration
250g Self Raising flour
2.5ml (1/2 tsp) Bicarbonate of Soda
5ml (1tsp) Baking powder
5ml (1tsp) Ground Cinnamon
5ml (1tsp) Ground Nutmeg
250g Mascarpone cheese
200g Philadelphia cheese
150g Icing sugar
1 Orange, zested

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. Grease & line the base of 2 x 20cm (8″) round tins.
3. Whisk the oil sugar & egg yolks together until smooth.
4. Add the grated carrot, lime juice & chopped walnuts. Mix thoroughly.
5. Sieve the flour, bi-carbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon & nutmeg together.
6. Fold the flour mix into the oil & egg mix until thoroughly combined.
7. Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
8. GENTLY fold the egg whites into the flour & oil mixture, being careful not to knock the air out of it.
9. Divide between your two tins.
10. Place on the centre shelf of your oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean & the cake has started to come away from the sides of the tin.
11. Leave to cool in the tins before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
12. Whisk together the mascarpone cheese, Philadelphia cheese, icing sugar and orange zest until thoroughly combined.
13. When the cakes are cool sandwich together with 1/3 of the frosting.
14. Smooth the remaining 2/3 of the frosting over the top & sides of the cake.
15. Decorate with halved walnuts as desired.
16. Keep cool due to the cheese frosting.

By separating the eggs and folding in the whisked egg whites, it will give you a lighter, larger variation on a normal carrot cake.
The Farrington cold pressed rapeseed oil is produced locally to me in Northamptonshire & adds the most amazing taste, as well as being healthy (NOTE: I was not sponsored by, or provided with a sample of Farrington Cold Pressed Oil. The opinion stated is purely my own and is totally unbiased towards them).
The lime juice can be changed to lemon juice if you wish.
Walnuts are optional, both in the cake and also as decoration.