Herb Crusted Beef Eye Fillet With Green Peppercorn Sauce

If you're not a vegetarian then you regularly make other animals die so that you can have dinner. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with this and personally I am perfectly happy to do this but I need to know that the majority of the meat I eat has been cared for reasonably well and not spent a miserable life couped up in a concrete bunker being fed antibiotics and pieces of its dead relatives.
If you're going to eat animals then try to buy free range and organic, it's becoming quite easy to do so and as availabilty increases and prices drop it is only going to get easier. We are very fortunate that our local butcher (Fifth Ave, Hamilton) is widely recognised as one of the best places in Hamilton to source good organic and free range meat. The recipe below will serve at least four with meat leftover for sandwiches.



700g piece of free range, organic beef eye fillet
3 tablespoons of freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 a cup of chopped fresh parsley
1 bunch of chives, chopped
1/2 a cup of mixed fresh herbs: thyme, basil, oregano etc, chopped.
Oil (we use rice bran oil for its high smoke point and low flavour)
300 ml of reduced fat cream
1 tablespoon of green peppercorns
Salt/pepper

Mix salt, pepper and herbs on a large chopping board.
Oil the meat all over and then roll the meat in the herb/pepper mixture making sure that is is well coated. Preheat your oven to 180C and cook the beef for around 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the meat. You are aiming to cook the beef rare and stand it for around 10 mins before slicing and serving. By the time the beef has stood and been served it will be medium-rare.
While the beef is cooking pour the cream in to a saucepan, heat gently and simmer while stirring. After 10 minutes add the peppercorns and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook gently while the sauce thickens and the colour changes from white to a light yellow (about 20-25 minutes).
Serve with green beans and chips. Yum.

Chips
Par boil large potatoes for 5 minutes, cool and cut. Place in a large metal oven tray and spray with oil (rice bran oil again). Cook at 180C for around 30 minutes turning half way through. The chips should be above the beef in the oven.