Bull Fillet and Farmhouse Rice

The farmhouse rice referred to in this recipe is camargue red rice from Camargue, a region in southern France, where this variety of rice is mostly cultivated from the wetlands. This rice variety is recently becoming popular among the gourmet set. The farmhouse rice is red in color, or brownish red as some would call it because this rice is not being milled or polished, leaving the outer bran layers intact. It has also a sticky, firm and chewy texture and a “nutty” flavor. To help you out check out its cooking recipe video.

These characteristics make the farmhouse rice a good and common accompaniment to most kinds of meat, like the bull fillet in this recipe. It takes about 35-45 minutes to cook bull meat and is best cooked like risotto. Sauté it in butter, then adding water or meat stock/broth little by little until cooked. For this recipe the chef used chicken stock.

Bull after being slaughtered for meat is no longer bull but beef. Beef comes from bulls, cows, heifers, or steers. They are called beef cattle, the animals raised for beef. Lean meat is an essential building block for a healthy diet is being advised that it be included in our regular diet. It has great protein content and has a lot of essential nutrients, vitamins, and moderate amount of fat. Get your bull meat from specialty shops or butchers.

Like most red rice, camargue rice is a lot heavier to the stomach than regularly used white ones. Matching it with bull and with the whole dish filled with flavorful touches, your diners will have a good time and leave satisfied when you serve this.

Ingredients

1 bull fillet (about 3.3 lbs.)
8.8 oz. (about 1 cup) rice
2 shallots
1 onion
Provençal herbs (dried savory, fennel, basil, and thyme)
laurel
chicken stock
salt, pepper
olive oil
butter

1. Prepare the rice. Mince the onion, shallots, and Provençal herbs and set aside. In a pot, heat some olive oil and butter. Add the minced onion, shallots, Provençal herbs, and bay leaf. Lower the heat of your stove then cook gently without browning. Add the rice, cook a little more then add some chicken stock. Boil. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

2. Trim the bull fillet. Take bull broth from the bits of the fillet trimmed off. Cut the fillet per about 150g then season it.

3. Heat some olive oil in frying pan. Fry one side of the fillet then add some butter. Turn the fillet over, which should now be well browned, then cook the other side till also browned. Finish cooking the fillet in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how well done you want it. Turn it over every 2-3 minutes.

4. Season the bull broth with red wine and water to make a sauce.

5. When the rice is also cooked, add a little butter to the pan then cook it just a little bit more.

6. Using a rounded mold, place a heap of rice in the middle of the plate then set the fillet on top of it. Drizzle the sauce around the dish. Serve hot.