Beef Fil­lets Duxelles

Beef Fil­lets Duxelles

(serves 4)

4 fil­let steaks (or sir­loin if you prefer)

4 tbsps butter

1 1/2 pounds chest­nut or Por­to­bel­lo mush­rooms, chopped fine

1 banana shal­lot or three lit­tle round shal­lots, minced

good splash Madeira or Marsala wine

3 tbsps light cream

4 pieces whole­meal bread, crusts cut off

hand­ful flatleaf pars­ley, chopped fine

Bring steaks to room temperature.

Melt but­ter in a heavy fry­ing pan and fry mush­rooms and shal­lots over a medi­um heat for 5 min­utes, until soft­ened.  Add splash of Madeira or Marsala, then fry gen­tly for about 20 min­utes, stir­ring fre­quent­ly.  The mush­rooms are fin­ished when they release no more mois­ture and are quite dry in the fry­ing pan.  Turn off heat at this point.

Mean­while, grill or pan-fry your steaks to your lik­ing, about 4 min­utes per side for medi­um-rare for steaks of aver­age thick­ness.  Let steaks rest while you toast the bread, and reheat the mushrooms.

Place one steak on each piece of toast and divide the mush­rooms among them, let­ting them tum­ble over the top of the steak.  Sprin­kle pars­ley on top and serve right away.