Côte de Boeuf, Market Vegetables, and Potato Puree with Truffle Butter ►
This is one of the most impressive dishes for entertaining. The perfectly seasoned and roasted beef is carved at the table; helpings of vegetable fricassee and potato puree are served from the same platter. The truffle butter is served separately. Chef Daniel Orr seasons his beef with his Au Poivre mix, combining five peppers, coriander, and fennel. If you can’t find his mix, you can blend your own from freshly ground black, white, green, and pink peppercorns, cayenne, coriander seeds and fennel seeds. You can do a lot of the work on this dish ahead of time, such as making the truffle butter, blanching the vegetables — save a little of the blanching water!, — and preparing the mousseline (“mousse-like”) potatoes. Bring everything back to temperature before proceeding to finish each part of the dish.
Ingredients
- Truffle Butter
- Unsalted Butter - 1 stick
- Truffle - 1, chopped fine
- Rib Roast - 3 – 4 pound, at room temperature
- Sea Salt - 1 tablespoon
- Daniel’s Au Poivre - 1 tablespoon (see note, above)
- Peanut Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Mirepoix - 1-1/2 cups (chopped onions, celery, carrots, and leeks)
- Cloves Garlic - 3, smashed
- Thyme - 4 sprigs
- Bay Leaf - 1
- Dry Red Wine - 1 cup
- Veal Glace - 1 cup (reduced rich veal stock)
- Unsalted Butter - 2 to 3 tablespoons
- Spring Vegetable Fricassee
- Truffle Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Chanterelle Mushrooms - 1 cup, sliced
- Haricots Verts (Blue Lake Green Beans) - 1/2 cup, blanched
- Green Peas - 1/2 cup small, blanched
- Squash - 1 small patty pan, quartered, blanched
- Baby Artichokes - 4, halved lengthwise and blanched
- Pearl Onions - 1 cup, blanched, peeled, and roasted
- Baby Carrots - 8, halved lengthwise, blanched
- Truffle Butter - 1 tablespoon
- Cherry Tomatoes - 1/2 cup, halved
- Coriander Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
- Lemon Zest - 1 lemon
- Mousseline Potatoes
- Heavy (Whipping) Cream - 3/4 cup
- Potatoes - 2 cups, mashed, strained
- Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons
Instructions
To make the truffle butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and add the truffle. Cook 3 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand away from heat for 10 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Put the partially set butter on a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a log or bar. Wrap and chill until hard.
To prepare the beef: Preheat the oven to 450 F. Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet until very hot. Rub the butter over the roast, reserving 2 tablespoons. Season with sea salt and pepper mix. Place the seasoned meat and peanut oil in the hot skillet; rotate the meat so it is standing on the rib bones and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Turn the meat to the fat side and drain excess fat. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes; both sides should be nicely browned. Drain remaining fat and take out the meat. Put the mirepoix, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf to the skillet. Place the roast back into the skillet on top of the vegetables and continue to roast for an additional 10 minutes for rare, 15 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from heat, take the meat out of the pan, and let the meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Pour off any fat and put the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the red wine and stir up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Lower the heat to medium and cook until reduced to almost dry. Add the veal glace and bring to a boil. Simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Strain the vegetables from the sauce. Continue reducing the sauce until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Swirl in the butter, a tablespoon at a time.
To prepare the vegetables: Melt 1 tablespoon of the remaining truffle butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and saute the mushrooms until they begin to color. Add all vegetables except the tomatoes to the skillet with 1 tablespoon blanching water (chicken stock may also be used. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon truffle butter, then reduce until the vegetables are almost dry. Add the cherry tomatoes, thyme leaves, coriander, and zest. Season with salt and pepper.
To prepare the potatoes: Bring the cream to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until reduced by one third in volume. Whisk the hot cream and butter into the hot mashed potatoes until very light.
To serve: Carve the rib roast. Mound vegetable melange on each warmed serving plate. Make a loose mound of potato mousseline on each. Lay a slice of rib roast against the vegetables on each plate and spoon a few vegetables over the edge of the roast. Spoon sauce over the roast and around the plate.
