This is a complex beef dish from Luke Holder, that includes beef cheek, beef fillet and snails. It does require a lot of attention, time and specialist equipment – it will, however, blow the socks off any dinner party guests you serve it to.
For the beef cheeks, heat the oven to 140ºC/Gas mark 1
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Seal the beef cheeks in a hot pan with a little oil until browned. Remove the cheeks from pan. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, and boil until the liquid is reduced by half
Put the wild garlic into a freezer container and freeze. When it starts to harden, transfer it to a food processor and whizzing, before mixing with butter and breadcrumbs
180g of breadcrumbs
300g of butter
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Roll out the crust out between 2 sheets of parchment paper then freeze again. Cut, once frozen, into 4cm square pieces
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For the beef, cut the 500g piece of fillet into 6 pieces, approximately 85g each. Season with salt
Heat the oven to 200ºC/Gas mark 6. Sear the beef fillet in the oil quickly all over in a hot pan then transfer to the oven for 15-20 minutes for rare meat
2 tbsp of oil
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Roast the parsnip in the moderately hot oil, add the butter and allow to foam
Turn the heat down and baste the foaming butter over the parsnips continuously for 6-8 minutes until cooked all the way through
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To plate, reheat the cheek through in the red wine gravy and place a piece of the wild garlic crust over the top before glazing under the grill
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Reheat the parsnip purée and check for seasoning
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Place a spoonful of parsnip purée to the left of the plate and the rested fillet on the opposing side. Cut the top end off the parsnips and stand one in the centre of the parsnip purée
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Place the now glazed beef cheek on top of the fillet and dress the crust with the braised snail and snail shells
Luke Holder comes by his taste for ultra-authentic local cuisine honestly: he's spent large chunks of his career soaking up regional techniques in far-flung parts of the world.
