Watch Christmas with Mark Moriarty on Monday, 22 December at 6:30pm on RTÉ One.
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 1.5kg whole beef striploin
- 200ml olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 bunch of thyme
- 2 tbsp black pepper
For the sauce:
- 400g diced beef trimmings
- 2 onions, skin removed and roughly chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp butter
- 300ml red wine
- 2 litres high-quality beef stock
- 1 tsp cornflour, dissolved in some cold water
Method
1. First up, we need to marinate our beef, place the olive oil, garlic cloves, thyme and pepper in a blender and blend to a paste. Smear this all over the beef and place in the fridge overnight.
2. The next day, preheat your oven to 140c. Place a large non-stick pan onto a medium heat and place the striploin in fat-side down. Slowly cook it here without moving it for about 15mins. What you want to do is render or melt the fat cap down and crisp up the out skin. Once this is done increase the heat and caramelise the beef all over, season heavily with sea salt at this point.
3. Transfer the beef to a wire rack (retain the pan) and place in the oven. Cook the beef until the internal temperature reaches 46c, you can monitor this with a meat thermometer.
4. While the Beef is cooking, we turn our focus to the sauce. In the pan you caramelised the beef in, add the diced beef and begin caramelising all over. Once this starts, add in the diced onion, carrot and butter. Cook over a high heat until it is all dark golden brown.
5. Now strain the beef and vegetables through a sieve to remove any excess fat. Once dried off, return them to the pan and increase the heat. Add the red wine and reduce by half. As it reduces, scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon.
6. Next, go in with the beef stock and cornflour and simmer for 30mins. Strain the beef and vegetables out at this point and reduce the liquid over a high heat until a sauce consistency is formed.
7. Remove the beef from the oven once it reaches 46c and allow to rest for 15mins. Add some of the juices from the tray to your sauce and adjust the seasoning. Slice the beef to reveal a perfectly medium finish and serve with your sauce.
