Tournedos à la Niçoise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch heavy skillet
• •10-inch lidded sauté pan
• •Small skillet
• •3 to 4-quart saucepan
• •Tongs
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Kitchen twine
• •12 to 14-inch round serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the mise en place

   Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Cut a shallow cross in the base of the tomato, lower it into the water for 20 seconds, then cool it under cold water. Peel it, halve it across the middle, and press out the seeds and watery pulp. Concassée means roughly chopped: chop the firm flesh and measure exactly 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g). Prepare the garlic and tarragon, trim the beans, and peel the potatoes. Keep the tournedos cold until about 20 minutes before searing; if any steak has lost its round shape, tie a loop of kitchen twine around its circumference.

2. 2

   Cook potatoes in butter

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter in a lidded sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the potatoes with a good pinch of salt, roll them through the butter, and cover. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, shaking and turning them every few minutes, until a knife slips easily into their centers. Uncover for the final 5 minutes and raise the heat slightly so their surfaces become patchy gold. If the butter browns before the centers soften, add 1 tablespoon of water, cover again, and lower the heat; the water will cook away, leaving the potatoes in their butter glaze.

3. 3

   Blanch the beans

   While the potatoes cook, bring a saucepan of water to a full boil and season it with about 2 teaspoons of the salt. Add the French beans and boil for 3 to 4 minutes, until tender but still carrying a slight bite. Drain them and cool them briefly in cold water to stop the cooking, then dry them thoroughly. Wet beans dilute butter instead of holding it, so spread them on a clean towel while the remaining components cook.

4. 4

   Toss tomato in butter

   Melt 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the crushed garlic and stir for 15 seconds without letting it color. Add the tomato concassée and toss for 45 to 60 seconds, just until warmed and glossy, then fold in the tarragon with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Lift the pan from the heat and cover it. The tomato must remain a small, spoonable heap, not collapse into sauce; if it releases liquid, lift out the solids, reduce the liquid for a few seconds, and fold them back together.

5. 5

   Sear the tournedos

   Warm the serving platter. Pat the tournedos dry once more, then season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until properly hot, add 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter, and wait until the vigorous foam begins to subside. Set in the steaks with space between them and leave them untouched for about 3 minutes, until the first faces are deeply browned. Turn them, add the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) butter, and baste as they cook for another 2 to 4 minutes. For medium-rare, remove them at 125 to 130°F (52 to 54°C); let them rest uncovered for 5 minutes. If the steaks meet the pan without an immediate hard sizzle, lift them out at once and let the pan recover before returning them. If the butter blackens, pour it off, lower the heat slightly, and begin again with the reserved tablespoon. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Bind the beans

   While the tournedos rest, melt the final 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) butter in the dry bean saucepan over medium heat. Add the beans with a pinch of salt and toss for 1 to 2 minutes, until hot and evenly glazed. This is liage au beurre, binding with butter: the butter should cling to the beans rather than sit in a puddle. If it pools, the beans were still damp; raise the heat and toss until the excess moisture cooks away.

7. 7

   Build the crown

   Remove any twine and arrange the four tournedos in a close ring at the center of the warmed round platter, forming a crown. Set exactly ½ tablespoon (7.5 ml / about 7.5 g) of the garlic-tarragon tomato in the center of each tournedos. Surround the crown with alternating small heaps of butter-bound French beans and golden potatoes, keeping the pattern generous and distinct. This entry calls for no separate sauce, so do not bury its clean butter sear under one. Carry the platter straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask for four center-cut fillet steaks of equal thickness. Weight matters less than uniformity: if one tournedos is thin and another tall, they cannot reach the same doneness together.
• •Out of tomato season, use a good canned whole plum tomato. Drain it thoroughly, press out the seeds and liquid, then measure the firm concassée flesh. An honest preserved tomato is better than a pale fresh one.
• •Fresh tarragon gives the tomato its clean anise note. If only dried tarragon is available, use ⅓ teaspoon (1.7 ml / about 0.3 g) and warm it briefly with the garlic before adding the tomato; the flavor will be rounder and less bright.
• •The browned fond may tempt you to deglaze the beef pan, but the source gives this tournedos no sauce. The moist tomato crown and butter-bound vegetables are its accompaniment, and adding a reduction would change the balance.
• •A supple Bellet rouge from the hills above Nice is a precise companion if you can find one. Serve the platter at once, because fillet waits badly and butter-glazed vegetables wait worse.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato can be peeled, pressed, and concassée up to 6 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, but do not add the garlic or tarragon until it is tossed in butter.
• •The French beans can be blanched up to 4 hours ahead, cooled, dried thoroughly, and refrigerated. Bring them out while the potatoes cook, then bind them with butter during the tournedos' rest.
• •The potatoes can be peeled up to 4 hours ahead and held under cold water. Drain and dry them completely before they meet the butter; surface water causes spitting and delays browning.
• •Do not cook the tournedos ahead. All three garnishes may wait briefly, but the beef should leave the skillet only minutes before the crown is assembled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)