One thing comes across in all this now Mpen. At £45K a year you must be an extremely succesful chef and a nice guy that is respected in the trade. That in itself will bring business in whatever you do and there is an opportunity there.
There are some 45,000 members in this forum. A considrable following if you were to publish a book someday. In the meantime how about some simple but easy receipes that busy business folk can re-produce reliably. I can't count the number of times I have tried to produce a decent Steak Diane and yet I have tried everything fron braising through sirloin and rump to fillet and rib eye steak.
Anyway. Best of luck with the bakers. Bread in the supermarket sucks after it is a couple of hours old. Jade
oky doky
Steak Diane
I prefer to use fillet for this, try and use your local butcher and ask for an aged fillet steak, you want it fully trimmed so all you have is pure meat nothing else, if your going to use a supermarket fillet always remove it from the packaging a couple of hours before you use it, never choose meat thats bright red, it looks nicer but it's too fresh you want something with a bit of age in it.
for two people you will need
4 slices of quality fillet steak about half an inch thick (each steak)
I small crushed clove of garlic (optional)
2 finely diced banana shallots or half a diced white onion
4/5 sliced med mushrooms
dessert spoon of chopped parsley
1 large tomato, skinned and seeded (put a cross on the top and bottom di in boiling water for around 30 seconds, then under cold water, the skin will come off easier)
unsalted butter
olive oil
shot of brandy
bottle of good red wine at room temp ( save one glass for the steak diane enjoy the rest whilst your cooking)
dijon mustard
whipping or double cream
thick bottomed saute pan
make sure the fillets are dry, season
heat the pan, dessert spoon of olive oil small knob of butter, fry the steaks around 1 min per side, don't let the pan get to hot or the butter will burn, take the steaks out put on warm plate and cover, not hot plates or the steaks will keep cooking,
add the diced shallot and garlic, dont colour cook until transparent,add mushrooms cook out brandy in flambe to remove the alcohol, add red wine, reduce down by half, add tomato, parsley and cream, about a cupful, reduce down until sauce thickens add dijon mustard and season to taste
pour blood and juices into sauce bring to simmer, switch
off, put the steaks into the sauce and cover for around 2 mins to warm.
enjoy
