beef

grilled filet steak with the creamiest white beans and leeks

servings
Serves 4

method

This combination of medium-rare beef, with all its lovely resting juices, alongside creamy sweet white beans is a classic and an absolute must if you’ve never tried it before.

Sweat the leeks, thyme and garlic with a splash of olive oil and the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on a low heat for 20 minutes until they are soft and sweet. Turn up the heat and add the white wine. Let the wine come to the boil, then add the beans and a splash of water, so that the beans are almost covered. Allow to simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes until the beans are lovely and creamy. Add the parsley, crème fraîche and a good glug of the extra virgin olive oil and taste for seasoning.

Heat a griddle pan until white-hot, season your steaks and pat with olive oil. Grill a 4cm/1½ inch thick steak for 2 to 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. You can keep them on there for longer, turning as you go, until cooked to your liking. Remove from the grill on to a dish and rest for 5 minutes. Squeeze over some lemon juice and drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil. Carve the steaks into thick slices. Divide the creamy beans between your plates and place the steak on top, drizzling over some of the resting juices.

• from Cook With Jamie

ingredients

• 4 leeks, washed, trimmed and finely sliced
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• olive oil
• a knob of butter
• a wineglass of white wine
• 500g/1lb 2oz good-quality tinned or jarred butter beans, drained and rinsed
• a small handful of freshly picked parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon crème fraîche
• good-quality peppery extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 x 200g/7oz well-marbled filet steaks, preferably free-range or organic, 2.5–4cm/1–1½ inches thick
• 1 lemon

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1. by Michael on Sat 07 Jan 2012 @ 11:18

Making this again tonight. Made it a half dozen times already, and it never fails to impress my other half - she's happy to let me do the cooking in our house, partly thanks to your recipes Jamie, cheers! As another poster said, the beans part of the recipe is sparing: we make the whole lot with only 2 cuts of steak for the two of us, and empty the pan! I also add the juices from the grill to the resting process, can't waste those beautiful juices. As for complaints about rare steak - of course it's rare, it's tender, delicious fillet. 2 minutes max each side for me. I'd be interested to hear what other dishes the beans could be served best with. 10/10 Thanks Jamie

2. by victoria on Thu 04 Aug 2011 @ 19:45

Why does everyone think well done meat is healthier/better and rare is dangerous? Use good quality not cheap nasty meat and you're fine :) Why would you waste steak by cooking it to death haha

3. by Luu on Sat 18 Jun 2011 @ 19:11

The beef in this does not look cooked at all. Salmonella is right round the corner guys.

4. by Lindsey on Thu 11 Mar 2010 @ 14:59

I made this last night with great results. I did, however, make a few adjustments. I didn't have fresh thyme so I used dried, which worked well (although I'm sure fresh would be better). I didn't have an open bottle of white wine, so I used dry vermouth, which gave the dish a really nice flavor. I also used skirt steak and seared it on both sides in a cast iron pan, then finished it in a hot oven. The whole dish was fantastic and I will definitely make it again.

5. by Siobhan on Thu 07 Jan 2010 @ 01:10

I made this dinner tonight and got loads of compliments!
It's absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making this one again! :)

6. by Amity on Thu 25 Jun 2009 @ 07:15

I made to creamy beans and served with lamb shanks and halved (tiny tiny) baked chat potatoes. Turned out fantastic. When you cut the potato, it'd crumble a bit, then you'd soak it up with the bean mix! Making the beans again tonight, I think this will be one of my "things I do every once in a while".
Thanks Jamie, love your work :)

7. by Virginia K. on Wed 01 Apr 2009 @ 07:44

The meat was absolutely fantastic but wasn't really amazed by the leek/bean mixture. But all in all it was Yummiee! :-)

8. by Phil Smith on Mon 30 Mar 2009 @ 18:38

Chuffin good. A perfect and simple confidence builder for anyone a wee bit unsure of their culinary skills. Don't mess around with your butcher/supermarket, get em to make these babies nicely trimmed and even cuts if possible. I cooked with all the ingredients for only three people and we could've still eaten more, partly because it's so good, partly cos we're fat b'stards and partly because the measures are a bit sparing, so i did it on a bed of blanched asparagus and made some mini roasties. It's one of those 'do that one again' dishes. Oh and leaving out the wine for an ex piss head was fine too.

9. by Sim on Tue 03 Mar 2009 @ 01:34

Hi, isn't it a lot healthier to do the meat WELL done?

10. by Jane Cook on Mon 23 Feb 2009 @ 19:35

I cooked this dish on Saturday for a birthday dinner and it was incredible. A perfect balance of ingredients for a classy but very easy dinner. An absolute winner!

11. by addy on Mon 19 Jan 2009 @ 23:59

This dish was absolutely fab!!!!! I have never tasted beans like this and will definately be making this one again. If you havent tried it yet, do it, you'll love it!!!

12. by Paul on Sat 27 Dec 2008 @ 01:42

Hi folks,

Anybody got any good recipes on how to make the rocket, lemon and parmesan pesto??

13. by peter on Thu 27 Nov 2008 @ 04:02

love this one Jamie. I'm not a big meat eater, but when I do indulge in a bit of carne, I like tophole stuff, like fillet. And the beans go sooo well with it, as do the leeks (one of my fave veggies). I orginally got the recipe out of your blue book (cooking with jamie?), but I left the book in another city and was very happy when I found the recipe on the net. So thanks again. I'm cooking it tonight, have informed the family of that fact, and they're all now looking forward to dinner.

14. by skye gamlin on Mon 22 Sep 2008 @ 15:58

This looks like a winner.Im going to try it out on a pro racing crew in Alicante next week on board s/y nariida...cheers

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