A delicious meal of chicken and leeks in a white wine and cream sauce topped with thinly sliced potatoes, sprinkled with cheese and baked until golden. What more can I say? Except sumptuous!
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.
Potato Dauphinoise
I’d find it difficult to completely cut carbohydrates from my diet and my own personal philosophy in life is a little bit of everything (that you’re not severely allergic to) can’t do you any harm. I find it sad that so many people profess to be allergic or intolerant to so many foods when really they just don’t know for sure and are just guessing at what is upsetting their digestion. I can speak from experience here as I was advised that I was wheat intolerant for over 5 years, removed it from my diet completely, but still suffered. Only upon proper medical food allergy testing did they actually find out that my demon food was to be egg white, and on cutting that out of my diet, my life and health improved significantly. But I digress, this is about a recipe not me on a soapbox, so here it is…
Serves 4
Little knob of butter to grease your dish
200ml Double cream
250ml Milk
2.5ml Nutmeg, freshly grated
1 Garlic clove, peeled and flattened (not crushed)
4 Large potatoes
100g Gruyere or Cheddar cheese, grated
1. Heat the oven to 190℃.
2. Butter the inside of a 20cm deep square dish.
3. Add the cream, milk, nutmeg and garlic clove into a large saucepan until boiling.
4. Meanwhile peel the potatoes, and using a mandolin (I thoroughly recommend the Oxo Good Grips Hand Held Mandoline), slice into 3-4mm thicknesses.
5. Reduce the heat under the cream and milk to a simmer and add the sliced potatoes.
6. Simmer gently for 3-4 minutes, gently stirring occasionally to prevent the slices sticking together or catching on the bottom of the pan.
7. Remove the potato slices with a slotted spoon to the buttered dish to create a relatively level surface covering the whole of the dish.
8. Remove and discard the crushed garlic clove.
9. Pour the milk and cream mixture over the potatoes.
10. Sprinkle with cheese.
11. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown on top and the potatoes are cooked.
12. Serve sliced into portions.
A wonderful, creamy and rich vegetable dish to serve with so many meals. If you’re watching you calories, then reduce the cream and replace this with milk, but be prepared to lose some of the taste if you do!
Serve this with my Fillet Steak in a Worcestershire Cream Sauce recipe for a decadent meal.
Restaurant Review – La Fonte Italian Restaurant Bistro, Corby, Northants.
Saturday night, 3rd January. It’s my husband’s birthday and we had no plans to go out for dinner as I’d planned to cook. Our eldest, home from University, is away for the weekend with friends, so it’s only the three of us at home. As I’d worked up to Christmas Eve and between Christmas and New Year, as well as on 2nd January, my husband decided that I needed a break and that a takeaway was in order.
I’d heard really good reviews about La Fonte Italian Restaurant Bistro in town so, as we all love Italian Food and, as the restaurant is only a few minutes drive from home, I decided to see if we could get a table. Being early evening, it wasn’t a problem and we arrived about 20 minutes after I called them. 5:30pm and there were already about a dozen other diners in there which is always a good sign so early in the evening on the quality of the food and service.
We were greeted and shown to our table by the window, presented with our menus and allowed a few minutes to settle down before our drinks order was taken. The drinks were brought within a few minutes along with freshly baked rolls and garlic butter and the order taken for our meals.
My husband and I started with the Bruschetta al Pomodoro. My daughter didn’t want a starter with her meal and was content to continue to enjoy her roll. The starters were brought within about 5-10 minutes and consisted of three grilled slices of bread topped with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil, drizzled lightly with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The warm bread, the cold tomatoes and the dressings complimented each other perfectly.
The staff were unobtrusive but obviously very observant as the plates were cleared within a couple of minutes of us finishing.
Being a lover of fish, my husband had chosen one of the day’s specials; monkfish in an orange sauce served with potatoes and salad. The sauce was thick and clear as well as being incredibly flavoursome without being overbearing to the perfectly cooked fish.
My daughter chose the Penne Al Forno; a baked dish of penne pasta served with broccoli in a tomato cream sauce with mozzarella. The broccoli was cooked beautifully, still al dente but retaining its flavour.
I chose the Penne Pollo; a bowl of penne pasta served with chicken breast in an onion and tomato cream sauce. The chicken was tender and succulent and enrobed in a delicious sauce.
Three empty plates at the end of the meal laid testament to the quality and flavour of the food.
With no room for coffee and in desperate need for elasticated waisted clothing after so much amazing food, we settled our bill which came in at a very reasonable amount, being just below £60 including drinks, and headed for home.
We can thoroughly recommend La Fonte Italian Restaurant Bistro in Corby town centre. You can find it opposite the Corby Cube and opposite where the cinema is currently being built on George Street. We’ll certainly be back for a return visit soon. I can see us tasting the whole menu here!
La Fonte is open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner between 12:00pm and 10:0pm as well as on Bank Holidays between 4:00pm and 10:00pm. They’re closed on Sundays.
This review is the opinion of my family and myself. We were not sponsored, invited or re-imbursed in any way to provide this review and all meals and drinks were paid personally.