For the parsley purée separate the stalks from the leaves. Bring the water to the boil and cook the stalks for 3 minutes
195g of parsley
70ml of water
2
Add the leaves and cook for a further 3 minutes. Refresh in ice water. Strain, retaining all the water in a separate saucepan. Press well with a ladle to extract as much water as possible
3
Weigh 80g of parsley, add the oil and salt and blitz for 2 minutes in a blender. Pass through a very fine sieve
30ml of olive oil
1.5g of salt
4
For the Madeira sauce combine the vinegar, port and Madeira, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half. Add the chicken stock
300ml of Madeira
20ml of sherry vinegar
100ml of port
300ml of brown chicken stock
5
Bring to the boil again and reduce to the consistency of a sauce. Add the thyme and cook for 5 minutes
1 sprig of thyme
6
Finish with the Madeira to taste. Pass through a fine sieve. Keep warm
2 tbsp of Madeira, to finish
7
For the beef remove the meat from the fridge 1 hour before cooking it
4 beef fillets
8
Heat a frying pan and cook the beef fillets on a high heat in 1 tablespoon of oil, colouring them evenly all over. Add a knob of butter and continue to cook until nicely caramelised. This will take about 5 minutes.
1 tbsp of olive oil
10g of butter
9
Season the beef with salt and pepper and remove from the frying pan. Rest on a plate with all the cooking juices
salt
black pepper
10
To plate, sauté the mushrooms in 50g of butter until just cooked
200g of wild mushrooms
50g of butter
11
Sweat the spinach in the remaining butter, drain well pressing between cloths to soak up the excess water
400g of spinach
10g of butter
12
Pan fry the foie gras in a dry, super hot pan. When coloured on both sides sprinkle over the xeres vinegar. Season with salt and rest on their sides in the cooking pan
4 slices of foie gras
salt
1 tbsp of sherry vinegar
13
Place a small mound of the spinach in the centre of each plate, spoon the mushrooms around. Place the beef fillet on top followed by the foie gras. Top with a quenelle of warmed parsley purée. Sprinkle watercress around and spoon over the sauce