Blackened sirloin steak with salted caramel onions and parsley salad

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This stunning blackened steak recipe from Paul Welburn sees beautiful beef sirloin brined and cooked sous vide before finishing in a pan for that wonderful charred finish. Served with salted caramel onions, beer and beef sauce and a stunning array of parsley and parsley root elements this is a truly impressive dish fit for a special occasion. This recipe makes more sauce than you need for this dish, but it can easily be frozen for other dishes in the future.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Blackened sous vide beef sirloin

  • 1 sirloin of beef, weighing 3.5-4kg
  • 50g of beef dripping, rendered
  • icing sugar, for dusting

Brine

Parsley oil

Beer and beef sauce

Parsley root purée

  • 250g of parsley root, peeled and finely diced
  • 50g of butter
  • 50g of whipping cream
  • salt
  • pepper

Salted caramel onions

Parsley root crisps

  • 1 parsley root, cut into thin strips
  • cornflour, for dusting
  • oil, for deep-frying

To serve

  • parsley cress

Equipment

  • Liquidiser
  • Cheesecloth
  • Squeezy bottle
  • Water bath
  • Chamber sealer
  • Large vacuum bags

Method

1
The day before serving, make the parsley oil. Blanch the parsley in salted boiling water for 1 minute. Drain, transfer to a liquidiser and blend with the oil until smooth and bright green
2
Transfer to a cheesecloth and hang overnight in the fridge with a jug positioned underneath to collect the oil. Store in a bottle until needed
3
To prepare the beef, mix together all of the brine ingredients in a large pan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and chill immediately
4
Once chilled, add the sirloin to the brine and set aside for 2 hours
  • 1 sirloin of beef, weighing 3.5-4kg
5
Preheat a water bath to 52˚C
6
After this time, remove the beef from the brine and rinse under cold water. Add to a vacuum bag with the beef dripping and seal in a chamber sealer. Cook in the water bath for 2 hours
7
While the beef is in the water bath, prepare the other dish elements. To make the beer and beef sauce, place a large pan over a high heat and add the beef dripping. Once melted, add the beef trimmings and cook until nicely browned off
8
Remove the trimmings from the pan but retain the fat. Add the shallots, garlic and peppercorns to the fat and slowly caramelise. Once golden, add the vinegar and deglaze the pan
9
Add 700ml of the beer to the pan, reduce by half, then add the red wine and reduce again by half
10
Return the trimmings to the pan, add the thyme and cover with the beef stock. Cook the sauce for 25 minutes, skimming the fat away from the surface as it reduces
  • 10g of thyme
  • 3l beef stock
11
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve and reduce to the desired consistency. Set aside until ready to serve
12
To make the parsley root purée, melt the butter in a pan and add the parsley root. Sweat with no colour for 20 minutes, or until soft
  • 50g of butter
  • 250g of parsley root, peeled and finely diced
13
Add the cream to the pan, transfer everything to a liquidiser and blend until smooth. Season to taste then adjust the consistency with a little vegetable stock
14
To make the salted caramel onions, cut each onion in half lengthways but leave the skins on. Heat a heavy-based pan over a medium heat, add the butter and sugar and allow to melt
15
Once melted, scatter over some salt and the thyme leaves. Place the onions in the pan, cut-side down, and allow the butter and sugar to caramelise – the onions will start to colour nicely
16
Once the onions are a dark golden colour, season with pepper, cover the pan with foil and finish cooking in the oven for 20 minutes
17
Remove from the oven and carefully remove the skins and first layer from each onion half (reserve the pan with the caramel in for reheating and glazing the onions later). Discard the skins and keep the outer layer to drizzle some sauce in when serving
18
When the beef is ready, remove from the bags and dust the flesh with icing sugar, without sugaring the fat
  • icing sugar, for dusting
19
Place a large pan over a high heat and once hot, add the beef. Caramelise the flesh until very dark in colour and the sugar almost burns. Once the flesh is blackened, place the beef fat-side down and gently caramelise the fat until it's a lovely golden colour
20
Remove the beef from the pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving
21
Preheat a deep-fryer or large, deep pan of oil to 170˚C
22
Dust the parsley root ribbons in cornflour and fry until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and season with a little salt
  • oil, for deep-frying
  • 1 parsley root, cut into thin strips
  • cornflour, for dusting
23
When ready to serve, warm the caramel in the pan and return the onions, glazing gently until they are nice and caramelised
24
When ready to serve, gently reheat the beef and beer sauce then stir in the remaining 50ml of beer. Reheat the parsley root purée
  • 50ml of beer, Paul uses Arundel Sussex Dark but a similar dark, malty ale will do
25
To plate, carve the beef into portions and place a slice on each plate. Add a spoonful of parsley root purée and top with parsley root crisps and micro parsley cress
  • parsley cress
26
Add a caramelised onion to the plate beside the outer shell of one of the onion halves. Fill with the beer and beef sauce, then finish with some drops of parsley oil around the plate
First published in 2016

Paul Welburn has years of Michelin-star cooking behind him, holding a star for five years at restaurant W1.

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