Afraid of curdling sauces? Flavoured butter is the way to go!
I love sauce. I really do. Sometimes I make earth shattering good ones, sometimes not so much. It all depends on how hurried and stressed I am. The latter just doesn’t bode well. Sometimes my sauce is too thick, curdled, wine-y, watery, creamy or simply not enough. Let’s face it; a lot of things can go wrong in the process of preparing a mighty fine sauce.
Why haven’t I thought of spiced butter? It's so simple!
Some of you may wonder why there is a photo of crushed pink peppercorns even though they don’t feature in the recipe? I went to all the trouble of finding this finicky ingredient only to forget to add it to the butter and by the time I realised what I had done (or should I say didn’t do?) the butter was already set in the fridge. Doh! Fortunately, more times than not, cooking unlike baking is quite forgiving. Leaving out the peppercorns didn’t make a huge difference but I have added it to the recipe as an optional ingredient, just in case.
This recipe is from Mark Baumann’s Posh Food. He further advised that you can make up your own flavours e.g. sun blush tomato, rosemary, soy butter etc. For plenty more ideas google “flavoured butters” and there’s a plethora of pages with interesting information.
Here’s another one of Mark’s tips. When you buy a whole herb plant, e.g. basil, at your local supermarket you tend to use only a few leaves. Instead of letting the rest of the plant die in vain, chop up the leaves, mix them with butter, wrap up in foil (not cling film!) and freeze it! Flavoured butters can be used from frozen and are best served with pasta, meat and fish just to give you a few suggestions.
Print📖 Recipe
Beef Fillet with Garlic & Mustard Butter
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- 5ml (1 tsp) pink peppercorns [optional]
- 3 cloves of crushed garlic
- 100g (3 oz) butter
- 15ml (1 tbsp) coarse grain mustard
- 2 fillets of beef, weighing 250g (½ lb) each
- butter for cooking
Instructions
- Soften the butter in a bowl.
- Crush the garlic and peppercorns.
- Mix together the garlic, peppercorns and mustard with the butter.
- Rolls like a fat cigar and place in fridge to set hard.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan 200°C/425°F/gas 7).
- Season the fillets with salt and pepper and sear in a really hot pan with melted butter and a little cooking oil.
- When the fillet is brown all round place in the oven for between 5 [rare] to 12 [well done] minutes depending on level of doneness.
- Get your fillet out, rest it properly then serve with a slice of two of flavoured butter on top.
Notes
- Serve with chunky fried chips and a crispy, dressed salad on the side.
- Have leftover butter? Freeze the tubes in tin foil. Don’t use cling film!
- Can’t find pink peppercorns? Use jarred green peppercorns stored in brine – remember to drain them first.
- Don’t feel like mustard today? Here are a few ingredients you can add (separately) to butter: sun blush tomato, rosemary, soy sauce.
- If you are on the Weight Watchers diet, have only one tablespoon (15ml) of flavoured butter to stick to the assigned ProPoints.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 1200
- Sodium: 1576 mg
- Fat: 111.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 63.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.6 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 45.3 g
- Cholesterol: 405 mg
Trevor
This looks like something my wifey could enjoy. 🙂
Renil M. George
I don't like garlic, but I think it is very healthy for me.
★★★★★
Maggie
This is exactly how I love my steak! I'll always ask for herbed butter in a restaurant - never tried it with mustard, that sounds inspired!
With your left over pink peppercorns, they taste beautiful crushed over strawberries. Simple when served with some home-made icecream, and it is a real talking point at a dinner party.
At their price you can't afford to languish them in the back of the store cupboard can you?! 🙂
Clair
Had a steak with a garlicky butter in a restaurant and it was soooo delicious. Glad I came across this site so now I can try some myself! Thanks for sharing!
The Ninja
Yum. My grandfather used to butter his steaks! I think this will be a little more spicy and wonderful!
Marisa
Think I'll add the pink peppercorns, if only because they'll look so pretty!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
Great idea - I saw Jamie Oliver do herb butters at Christmas and thought it would be sensible to keep a stash in the freezer just in the right portion sizes.
Mandy - The Complete Cook Book
What an incredible sounding butter. Brilliant.
🙂 Mandy
J3nn (Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog)
Wow! That sounds fabulous. I haven't used butter too much on fillet, but now I really must try it with garlic. Delicious!
Michelle
Thanks, Jen. Do let me know how you get on!