You know that feeling when you have the very first mouthful of something, and you can’t help but close your eyes at the sheer deliciousness of it? So it was with Ross Martin’s Beef in Anchovy Cream, made for our New Year’s Eve din dins. I’m going to make very grand claims for this recipe. It is not only the best Silver Screen Suppers recipe of 2014, it is the best Silver Screen Suppers recipe EVER. Absolute perfection.
Here it is bubbling away on Mr R’s stove in his much-coveted-by-me green casserole dish.
This is a pricey dish if you are cooking for a crowd, and it takes a while to cook, but for a special occasion I don’t think this can be beaten. The photos don’t do it justice. It must be tasted!
Conversation between me and Mr R once I’d finished oohing and ahhing about how divine this dinner was.
Mr R: “I think you’ve impressed yourself haven’t you baby?”
Me: “Yes!” (I was very impressed with myself indeed).
You want the recipe now don’t you? Well here it is my friends. I used the salted anchovies that you get in a small jar and that laze around in the fridge for decades, and good old Oxo Cubes as they were what I could get at Mr R’s corner shop.
The dish might turn out differently if you used fresh anchovies and proper beef stock, but I am going to do it EXACTLY THE SAME every time I make it because this was just the best. You have to buy good quality meat for this recipe, I reckon. Push the boat out. I bought my beef from the butcher and it was £20 – I did half of Ross’ recipe and it served 2 with a small portion left over). I used sour cream and sweet paprika. Here it is!
Ross Martin’s Beef in Anchovy Cream
Cut 3 lbs of tender beef (chateaubriand) in 1/8″ thick slices. Put in casserole with 3/4 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup beef stock, 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 1/4 cup chopped shallots – and a dozen anchovy filets. Simmer over low heat 1 & 1/2 hour, adding cream and stock, if needed, to keep meat covered. Add 2 tablespoons each of brandy and paprika during last half hour of cooking (serves 4 to 6).
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargggggggggg – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Also a note to self for next New Year’s Eve, a 200 piece jigsaw (or in this case a 199 piece jigsaw) is the perfect amount of pieces to put together after dinner before the fireworks kick off…
Sigh. The days of being able to share a nice picnic with some baby chimps are over, alas. Look at the lovely life we have lost…