Wagyu steak sandwich with bearnaise sauce:
Serves 4

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Ingredients:
Bearnaise Sauce
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 eschalots, peeled and sliced
1 sprig tarragon
3 egg yolks
300g melted butter, cooled slightly
2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sandwich
4 x 100g pieces wagyu beef fillet
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon roughly chopped terragon leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped finely
4 panini rolls, cut in half and warmed or toasted, to serve
1 cup wild rocket leaves, to serve

Method:
To make the bearnaise sauce, place the vinegar with 2 tablespoons of water, the eschalots and tarragon in a small saucepan and reduce over medium heat to 2 tablespoons. Strain and cool. Place the reduction and egg yolks in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture until pale and frothy. Remove from the heat. Add the butter in a thin, steady stream, beating until the mixture thickens. Season to taste and add the chopped tarragon and lemon juice. Set aside to cool.

Place the beef fillets between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to platten out to 3mm thick. Place in a single layer in a shallow non-metallic dish. Combine the oil, balsamic vinegar, tarragon and garlic. Season to taste and pour over the fillets. Marinate for 30 minutes, turning once. Heat a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Add the fillets and cook for 1 minute each side or until browned and cooked to your liking. Set aside.

To assemble, place a slice of seared wagyu on a panini half, spread with bearnaise sauce and top with wild rocket and the top of the roll if desired. Season and tasted to serve.


Chargrilled wagyu steak, wild mushrooms, crispy potatoes, truffle jus
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 x 250g wagyu rump steaks
Olive oil
150g wild mushrooms – choose from shiitake, coral, oyster, shimeji, chestnut etc
150g potatoes, peeled & cut into 1cm dice
150g baby spinach, stalks removed
Maldon salt & cracked black pepper
150 ml veal jus
1 tsp truffle pesto*
1 bunch watercress

Method:
Fry potatoes in a little oil in a hot fry pan till golden. Drain on absorbent paper. Fry mushrooms in a little more oil till golden. Remove pan from heat & keep covered.
Brush steaks with oil & season with salt & pepper. Grill on a preheated barbecue to desired temperature. (For medium steak cook for 4 minutes on each side.) Cover & allow to rest.
Return mushroom pan to heat. Add potatoes & spinach & sauté over high heat until spinach is wilted. Season with salt & pepper.
Distribute vegetables onto plates. Carve steaks & present on vegetables.
Heat veal jus, stir in truffle pesto & any juices that have been released from the steaks.

*An affordable way to experience the unique perfume of truffle. Available from Visco Australia Trading or good delicatessans


Minature Wagyu beef pies
Serves 20
Chef: Shannon Bennett

Ingredients:
800 g Wagyu silverside/ Chuck (small diced)
100 g celery (diced)
100 g carrot (diced)
2 Brown Onions (diced)
2 bay leaves
30 g flour
50 ml olive oil or 100 g goose fat
¼ bunch of parsley
250 ml port
500 ml Guinness(shiraz)
Bouquet garni
700 ml veal stock
10 soaked prunes
200 g crushed hazelnuts
500 g puff pastry

OR

Paté Sel (short crust pastry)
250gm plain flour
150gm butter
1 egg
Pinch sugar
1 tspn salt
40 ml milk

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 150C

Using a heavy based pot with a lid over a medium heat, sweat off the diced vegetables and bay leaves in olive oil or goose fat, season the vegetables well with salt and pepper, this will help the vegetables absorb the flavour from the goose fat. Add the Guinness and port, reduce by half, add the veal stock and reduce by a further 1/3. Add beef, soaked prunes and crushed hazelnuts. Cover pot with foil and a lid, and place in oven at 150C for 3 hours. Let this mix rest for 24 hours covered in the fridge.

To make pate sel, combine flour and butter with fingers to resemble breadcrumbs, it's called a rubbing action. Place into a kitchen aid and add all other ingredients quite rapidly, do not over work, as soon as dough has come together, remove and wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for a few hours.

Roll out dough in either a pasta machine to number 7 or around .5 cm thick with a rolling pin. Place into an appropriate pie tin or mould; pack in filling well over the top to for a dome shape. Garnish with two layers of pastry one layer press firmly over and trim edges, the second use a lattice cutter and arrange over the first layer, brush a little water on first to ensure it sticks to the first layer.

Rest for a few hours in fridge or freezer. Brush with egg wash and bake at 180C for around 25 minutes, until golden, depending on the size. Serve with a hazelnut and watercress salad and a good glass of Australian Shiraz.