JamieOliver.com

peppered beef fillet

main courses | serves 4
1 Take the fillet steaks out of the fridge an hour before they are required to let them come to room temperature. Rub the fillets with a little olive oil and then roll them in the black peppercorns. Do this with gay abandon – ideally the fillet should be covered with a coat of peppercorns. You'll probably need to press them on a bit to make sure that they stick.
2 Heat the olive oil in a frying pan large enough to comfortably hold the 4 fillets. Add the fillets, then slip in the butter. Turn up the heat to compensate for the loss of heat that will be caused by the addition of the meat.
3 When the pan has recovered its temperature, turn the heat down so that the fillets don’t burn. You want them to gently crackle in the pan, with the oil-butter mix gently frothing. Don’t be tempted to prod or poke – just allow them to cook gently and let them do their own thing! Turn them over after, say, 3–4 minutes – the crust should be golden brown.
4 Once both sides are done, brown the edges of the steaks in the same way. For 220g steaks, you're looking at a total cooking time of 8–10 minutes for rare fillets, 10–12 for medium rare, and 12–14 minutes for medium. Once they're cooked, remove from the pan to a warmed serving dish.
5 Pour away the oil, add the cream and bring to the boil and allow to boil for 1–1/2 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and pour over the steaks. Serve with a bowl of chips and a green salad.


Recipe by Thierry Laurent of Bistro Paul Bert, Photography by Lisa Linder
• from From Jamie Magazine issue 2