Recipe – Bavette de Boeuf à la Lucito

Last week I posted some pictures of various dishes we like a lot and I mentioned that one of my favorite ones was a bavette de boeuf recipe that I have been making since our French butcher, Roger, showed us this inexpensive cut of meat. He worked in a little Italian butcher shop in St-Léonard, an eastern suburb of Montréal. I was raised in this neighborhood where a lot of Italian people resided. A bit over 20 years ago this butcher shop was recommended to us and we started to get our meat there regularly. Years after I moved up North to Mont-Tremblant, where I was born, I was still driving 100 miles to Montréal to go get my meat at that shop as they had the best beef, veal, lamb, and pork that you could get, and also great grain-fed chicken, turkey, pheasant and quails. Roger was from France and the only non-Italian in the shop. He was my regular butcher and was always recommending the best cuts to us. One day I was not sure about what to buy and I was thinking of maybe getting some beef tenderloin, and he suggested that I get some bavette as the taste is far superior. Bavette is not as tender as tenderloin by its nature, but well marinated its well marbled texture will melt in your mouth. I always liked meat with coarse texture like flank and the bavette is similar. If your butcher does not know this French cut, the North-American name is flap meat, or more exactly bottom sirloin butt flap. Its taste is very distinctive and once you have it, nothing else will compare.

I normally marinate it for some hours before cooking, or even overnight if you want it extra tender. I accompany it with a sturdy port wine sauce, and my favorite side dish is Salardaise Potatoes made with some nice Italian truffles and truffle oil. It is best grilled over real charcoals, but can be successfully made on a grill pan on the stovetop and finished in the oven. It is a cut that works greatly with the cook and hold methods. I like to entertain with this meal as everything can be cooked slightly ahead and held until you are ready to serve. It permits me to sit down with the guest and to have the first course with them while the main course is holding in a low oven. This way I do not have to do last minute cooking between courses. Leftovers are wonderful, and years ago, when the Padrino was visiting, we invented a wonderful lunch treat the day after one of our famous 6 hour meals. By the next afternoon we were getting a tad hungry and we looked at what we had for leftovers. We discovered some nice cooked bavette from the night before, some great Brillat-Savarin cheese from France, and my favorite Montréal style bagels. We made some incredibly satisfying sandwiches on the bagels with simply a thick layer of Brillat-Savarin, some nice slices of bavette, and a bit of honey mustard. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water…

Ingredients

Bavette and Marinade
2 pounds bavette in one piece
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
4 tbs port wine
1 tsp crushed thyme
1 tsp crushed freeze-dried chives
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Sauce
3 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1/4 pound of fresh chanterelles
2 tbs very finely diced sweet red pepper
2 tbs very finely diced French shallots
2 tsp fresh chives finely sliced
2 tsp finely crushed Herbes de Provence
2 tbs beef extract
1/2 cup port wine
1 1/2 cup beef bouillon
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Clean the bavette well and remove any piece of remaining fat.
2. On both sides of the bavette and with a very sharp knife, cut a pattern about 1/4" deep, an inch apart, in two directions 90 degrees from each other. One of the series of cuts should be with the grain and the others across.
3. Place the prepared bavette on a large bowl or plate and rub into it half of the marinade ingredients. Turn the bavette over and repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. Cover and marinate for a few hours or refrigerate overnight.
4. On a very high heat BBQ or grill pan, sear the bavette for about 4-5 minutes, turn and repeat the process to the other side. Place the seared bavette in an oven-proof dish and place in a preheated very low oven (~250F) while you prepare the sauce.
5. In a medium saucepan put 1 tbs of the butter and sauté the mushrooms, red peppers, and shallots until tender and reserve.
6. In the same saucepan melt the remaining butter and add the flour to it. Mix well with a wooden spoon and gently cook the roux over medium heat until it starts taking color. Be careful not burning it.
7. When the roux reaches a light brown color, add 2/3 of the port wine and incorporate well.
8. Slowly add the beef stock while mixing until you have a nice thick sauce. Lower the eat to a very slow simmer.
9. Add the reserved mushrooms, shallots, and red peppers. Mix well.
10. Add the chives, Herbes de Provence, beef extract, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
11. When all the ingredients are well incorporated, add the rest of the port wine and blend well.
12. To server cut the bavette in thin slices on the bias across the grain and ladle a few spoons of sauce on the meat.

Lucito