Minute steaks with Rockpool’s Cafe de Paris butter and more celebrations

I would be kidding myself, and you, if I told you that this post was about beef steaks. The secret to this dish lies in the butter. Cafe De Paris butter to be exact, but not just any loose interpretation of it, a restaurant inspired one. By Neil Perry of Rockpool Bar and Grill.

Having tried it recently I couldn’t think about anything else for about a week. This should give you an indication of how good this butter was. I was going to reverse engineer the recipe as I like to do when I’ve tasted something magnificent, but when I googled “Cafe de Paris butter” for the basic ratios, Neil’s recipe which has a lovely hint of curry, came up at the top. I hope that’s where it stays, I’m just spreading the love.

While this time we opted for premium Rangers Valley 300 day grain fed rumps (at $69 a kilo), which by the way were divine, a similar memorable-for-weeks-type effect could easily be achieved with your regular supermarket beef fillet. It’s all in the butter…

If you’d gasped at the price of the beef, I assure you that one $22 steak, which we asked the butchers at Victor Churchill to split into 3, was more than enough to satisfy 3 people. The 100g serving can be easily padded out with cheap peasant vegetables such as beets, onion and parsnip which are lovely roasted, as well as kipfler potatoes cooked in (wagyu) drippings with rosemary – both sides feature on Rockpool’s menu. In the end, the meal ends up being relatively cheap to prepare at home and tastes incredibly good!

By the way, this month Victor Churchill is celebrating a very special, 60th birthday of Victor Puharich, master butcher and company founder as well as 135 years of the butcher shop’s operation. As a way of saying thank you for our continued support they will be offering customers a glass of Pelorus sparking between 3pm and 6pm from 22nd August until the 28th August. Be sure to drop by.

Lastly, it’s time to announce my blogiversary giveaway winner. The 12 month subscription to the Australian Good Food Guide magazine goes to… Jasmine at Not too Fancy !!! Congratulations, hope you’ll enjoy your prize! And thanks to everyone who participated – I loved reading all your lovely comments and have taken a lot of suggestions on board.

Cafe De Paris butter with minute steaks

It’s one of those recipes that looks scary because of the long ingredient list, but it’s not only quick and simple to prepare, the butter can be frozen and tastes absolutely sensational! You could use it with beef roasts, grilled salmon or even chicken. Prepare in advance. Also, I like to melt my butter portions in the microwave just before serving, for say about 15 seconds, as it helps the flavours ‘melt’ into the steaks.

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For the butter:

125g unsalted butter, softened
15ml vegetable oil
1/4 white onion, finely diced
10g Indian style curry powder
1 small handful parsley leaves
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 anchovy fillets
1/2 teaspoon baby capers, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 small handful basil leaves
1 small handful thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 egg yolk

For the steaks: use your favourite cuts and cook to your liking.

To make the butter: heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and curry powder over low heat until soft and fragrant. Set aside to cool.

Process all ingredients until just combined. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Roll butter into a 4cm diameter log, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

Any unused butter can be frozen if it is not going to be used within a week or so.