For an ideal pairing, serve the dish with the wine you used to cook it; choose a full-bodied and structured red wine, such as Nebbiolo, Nero d’Avola, or Sassella.
Difficulty: easy
Method: 20'
Cooking: 25'
Chef Danilo Angè
Difficulty: easy
Method: 20'
Cooking: 25'
Method
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01 / Prepare the pumpkin
Remove pumpkin rind
Clean out seeds and pulp and cut into 1-cm cubes
Peel onion and finely chop
Melt butter with sage leaves over low heat
Add onion and gently sauté
Add pumpkin cubes, salt, and pepper
Cook for about 15 minutes, until pumpkin is soft but dense
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02 / Prepare the meat
Salt beef fillets
Lightly flour on all sides
Meanwhile, peel shallots
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03 / Cook the meat
Put a pan over medium heat
Add extra virgin olive oil
When the oil is hot, put in beef fillets
Add sprig of rosemary and shallots
Brown the meat on all sides, turning without pricking it
Monitor heat to avoid burning the shallots and lower if necessary
Cover with red wine and let evaporate
Add balsamic vinegar
For a rare fillet, cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, turning halfway through cooking
If you want the fillets cooked to medium doneness, add 3 minutes to total cook time
Turn off heat and let fillets rest for 2 minutes before plating
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04 / To serve
Arrange shallots on serving dishes with a little pan sauce
Place fillets on top of red wine sauce
Complete with a drizzle of red wine sauce over the meat
Serve with cooked pumpkin
Wine pairing
Beef fillet must be prepared right before serving in order to maintain its pleasantness and succulence.
You can prepare the pumpkin side dish a few hours in advance.
When cooking the meat, do not skip the browning stage, which serves to seal the juices inside the fillet.
Be careful not to prick the meat with a fork or other utensil while cooking so as to avoid the juices escaping.
A fillet is a lean cut with little connective tissue, suited to short cooking times; do not cook it longer than indicated or else the meat will be tough and dry.
Remember to let the fillet rest before plating it; this allows the juices to redistribute within the meat so they do not all escape at the first cut.
Do not let the pan sauce dry out; keep the heat gentle and, if necessary, add a drizzle of water or stock.
You can use the leftover meat to prepare Milanese meatballs or a filling for meat ravioli. You can also add it to other meats in a meat sauce.
The leftover pumpkin will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days closed in an airtight container. You can serve it again as a side dish or use it for a pumpkin risotto.
You can replace the beef fillet with a fillet cut of another meat, like pork, veal, or even game.
Use a high-quality, full-bodied, and structured red wine; you only need a little for cooking the meat, the rest you will drink alongside it.
Traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena is a product of superior quality. If you cannot find it, do not use a vinegar of lesser quality; replace it with one tablespoon of acacia honey dissolved in a ladleful of stock (vegetable or meat).
You can replace the pumpkin with another side dish of your choosing. Sweeter vegetables will maintain the harmony of the recipe.
Ingredients for 4 people
For the fillet
4 beef fillets (150 g each)
30 g tipo 00 flour
20 g extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
200 g shallots
150 ml full-bodied red wine
20 ml traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena
Salt and pepper
For pumpkin
80 g onion
40 g butter
2–3 sage leaves
600 g whole pumpkin
Salt and pepper
Wine pairing
For an ideal pairing, serve the dish with the wine you used to cook it; choose a full-bodied and structured red wine, such as Nebbiolo, Nero d’Avola, or Sassella.
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