recipe
Steak au poivre with wild fennel
Over the years, I have become more and more aware of the plants around me. Often it’s while in transit, on roadsides, near train tracks and on bush trails. Wild fennel, it seems, is becoming more and more prolific. Travelling in the opposite direction to cane toads, it appears to have begun in the southern states and is spreading north, creating a true seasonal reference as things warm up.
You absolutely would have seen it if you live on Australia’s east coast. Its fine dark-green fronds sprout an equally fine yellow flower head towards the peak of summer. Wild fennel is distinctly different to its commercially grown cousin – I would assume due to less water input. In commercial fennel farming, the bulb underground is the prized element and its water content is high. In the wild variety, the frond is much stronger in anise flavour and more resinous. When in pollen the flower has a curry powder-like property, making it an incredibly versatile herb to integrate into day-to-day cooking.
As a chef, I am fairly regularly called upon for tips and hints. Sometimes it’s for restaurant suggestions in different cities; other times it’s a quick how-to on a product that is not so common. The answer is normally fairly simple, but one request had me thinking of the best versions of steak au poivre I have experienced, and how to replicate or draw on the aspects I love.
Steak au poivre is an absolute French bistro staple. When done well it is a beautiful silky, acidic, sweet and bitter sauce that is as delicious on the steak as it is mopped up with French fries afterwards. When done poorly it tastes not much better than a claggy cream sauce that brings nothing to the dish. The key to all of these classic sauces is the layering. Different liquids built up to provide a sweet base and salty and acidic high notes. Pay attention as this sauce cooks, and bring it to a consistency that is ethereal. Times are merely a guide, but the volumes I have found to be correct.
The non-traditional addition of the fennel is utterly worth it. In fact, I think I would always keep this in my ideal steak au poivre. It’s hard to improve on a classic but not impossible. I tend to keep the sauce on the lighter end of the spectrum, as you will be surprised by how much the resting juices thicken it when reincorporated.
This is about the only dish I would recommend eye fillet for. It isn’t the cut I love the most, but its tender consistency and lack of fat are unbeatable for this application.
Time: 20 minutes preparation + 20 minutes cooking
Serves 4
- 800g eye fillet steak
- 100g plain flour
- salt
- cracked pepper
- 50ml olive oil
- 50g butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 4 shallots, finely diced
- 50ml brandy
- 150ml white wine
- 20ml fish sauce
- 10ml sherry vinegar
- 200ml pouring cream
- 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
- 1 tbsp green peppercorns
- 20g Dijon mustard
- 1 cup wild fennel fronds, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp wild fennel pollen
- Cut the eye fillet into four 200-gram steaks. Flour the steaks, then season with salt and some cracked pepper.
- In a heavy cast-iron pan, bring the olive oil and butter up to temperature. Add the steaks, followed by the garlic cloves and thyme, and sear for two minutes on each side. Remove the fillets as well as the garlic and thyme. Rest the steaks on a plate.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the diced shallots. Sweat them off until they are soft, then deglaze the pan with the brandy and, shortly after, with the white wine. Reduce this liquid by half and then add the fish sauce and sherry vinegar. Reduce for a further minute then add the cream, pepper and peppercorns. Stir in the mustard and simmer for a minute or so.
- At this point, tip the resting juices from the steaks into the sauce and stir with a fork to bring it all together. Remove the sauce from the heat and add the steaks back into the pan to rest further in the hot sauce for three minutes, flipping them at least twice.
- Place the steaks onto individual plates, then bring the sauce back to the boil. Add the fennel fronds and pollen and wilt for a minute before spooning this sauce liberally over the steaks.
- Serve with French fries and a leaf salad for a stunning French bistro meal.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on January 17, 2026 as "French evolution".
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