shimeji mushrooms

Beef filet mignon was the main course of Café Crepp Maitsva Tartu. The easiest, best, and perhaps the only correct way to prepare beef fillet is to do it using sous vide technology. The beef fillet is seasoned with salt and black pepper, sealed in a vacuum bag, and cooked at low heat at 54 degrees C for 1.5 to 2 hours in a water bath so that the heat is distributed evenly. When prepared this way, the meat cooks evenly, and there is no gradient in color. We chose chestnuts to give the main course a note of sweetness at the suggestion of Mark Liecht, whose dream was to use chestnuts in food.
We also added to the meal one whole chestnut, which was slightly caramelized in a pan. The choice of chestnuts also underwent a comprehensive development process, from roasting raw chestnuts in the oven and removing their skins to using pre-cooked and vacuum-packed chestnuts. In the end, the choice fell on the chestnut preserve, where the chestnuts were in a sweet honey sauce, which gave flavor and which was easy to caramelize in the pan.
In addition to the perfectly cooked beef, chestnut puree, and caramelized chestnut, the main course was flavored and also enriched with a lot of deep-fried potato wedges with skin, balsamic caramelized shallots, and shimeji mushrooms quickly fried in butter.

Preparation time: The entire main course takes about 3-4 hours
Level: Medium
Quantity: according to the number of diners

Ingredients:
Beef fillet:
Beef fillet
Sea salt and black pepper

Potato boat:
Large, well-shaped, and undamaged potatoes
Oil for frying

Chestnuts:
Canned chestnuts
A little butter for frying

Garlic confit:
Single clove Solo garlic, top cut off about 4-5 mm
Oil for frying the garlic

Chestnut sauce:
50-80 g chestnut flour
400 g Parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
0.25 tsp thyme
4 medium cloves of garlic
1 stalk of celery, cut into pieces about 1 cm long
250 g Whipped cream
Black pepper and sea salt to taste
1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce
1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Caramelized balsamic shallots:
To make one pan, you will need about 200 g shallots, peeled and cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size of the shallots
Sea salt to taste
Sugar
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
30 ml balsamic vinegar

Fried shimeji mushrooms:
A couple of handfuls of shimeji mushrooms, the roots cut off
1 tbsp butter for frying
A pinch of sea salt to taste

Preparation:
Beef fillet:

1. Trim the beef fillet, remove the membranes and protruding edges.
2. Season the meat with sea salt and black pepper.
3. To get a more uniform meat, wrap the piece of meat tightly in cling film and cut it into 4-5 cm thick pieces with the film.
4. Place the pieces of meat in a single layer in a vacuum bag, seal the bag, and place in a water bath with a sous vide device at 54 degrees C for 1.5 hours.
5. After cooking, cool the meat quickly to +4 degrees and store for up to a week.
6. For frying beef fillet, it is best to place the pieces of meat at 50 to 52 degrees C for at least half an hour before serving. Room temperature is also suitable, but in this case, the meat needs a longer period of “resting” after frying so that the internal temperature of the meat reaches a pleasant level for eating.
7. To fry, heat cooking oil in a pan at a very high temperature, dry the pieces of meat and fry for about 1-2 minutes on all sides and edges so that a crispy layer forms on the meat, but so that the color of the meat inside the piece of meat does not start to acquire a gradient and remains evenly pink.
   We served the meat at the Crepp cafe at Medium rare, but in case anyone doesn’t want this level, here are some suggestions on how to change the doneness of the meat. To achieve the medium level, it was enough to fry the meat for about 2 minutes longer and let the meat “rest” for at least the same amount of time as it took to fry. In order to cook completely cooked meat (I personally don’t recommend cooking it), it would be wise to place the piece of meat in the oven at 100 degrees C for 30 minutes and then fry the meat as usual and let it “rest”.
8. After frying, it is ideal to put a little melted butter on the meat that has been standing with thyme sprigs. After frying, let the meat rest under the lid for the same amount of time as it took to fry.

Potato boat:

1. Boil the potatoes until semi-soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Cool the potatoes, cut them in half, and hollow out the inside of the potato so that about 1 cm of potato remains under the skin.
3. Freeze the potatoes completely at -20 degrees C.
4. Fry the frozen potatoes in cooking oil at 130 degrees C for 10 minutes.
5. Cool the fried potatoes and freeze completely at -20 degrees C. Potatoes prepared in this manner can be stored for a long period.
6. Before serving, heat the cooking oil to 180 degrees C and fry the potatoes for 2.5 minutes until the potatoes rise to the surface of the oil and have become golden brown and crispy.
7. After frying, be sure to shake the potatoes with sea salt.

Chestnuts:
Heat in a pan or over high heat and fry the chestnuts quickly for about 1 minute. During this time, the chestnuts will caramelize slightly.

Garlic confit:

1. Cut a 4-5 mm section off the top of the garlic.
2. Place the garlic in a heatproof dish or pan.
3. Pour cooking oil over the garlic so that it is about 1/3 to ½ full of oil.
4. Cook in a frying pan at 150 degrees for 25 minutes.
   Use the garlic as a side dish when serving food.

Chestnut sauce:

1. Peel the parsnip and onion and chop coarsely, and place in a cooking pot.
2. Add the garlic and chopped celery stalks. Cover the vegetables with water and cook until the celery and parsnip are soft.
3. Add sea salt, black pepper, whipping cream, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and crush everything with a blender.
4. Add the chestnut flour and stir. The chestnut flour will thicken the sauce considerably. Add water until it has reached the desired consistency.

Caramelized balsamic shallots:

1. Peel the shallots and cut them in half or quarters.
2. Place the shallots in a baking dish or heatproof pan. Add 3-4 tbsp cooking oil and a little sea salt. Cover with foil or a lid and bake at 160-170 degrees C for 30 minutes.
3. Add about 30 ml and lightly sprinkle the shallots with sugar. Cover the baking dish with a lid or foil and bake for another 30 minutes at 160-170 degrees C.
   Use the caramelized shallots when serving food.

Butter-fried shimeji mushrooms:

1. Remove the root part from the mushrooms with a knife.
2. Heat the butter in a pan and fry the mushrooms in a hot pan for about 1 minute, stirring the mushrooms constantly. Season lightly with sea salt.

Serving the food:

1. Place two teaspoons of sauce on one edge of a large, black frying plate and draw a wide stripe with the bottom of a spoon.
2. Place one confit’d solo garlic clove in the narrow part of the sauce stripe.
3. Place some caramelized balsamic shallots and butter-fried shimeji mushrooms in a fried potato ladle. Place the ladle at a semi-oblique angle on the sauce stripe next to the garlic.
4. Place a piece of meat on the wider end of the sauce stripe, place a caramelized chestnut on top of the meat, and a small sprig of thyme on top of the chestnut.
5. Sprinkle the food with freshly ground black pepper and serve.
   Ready!!