A Seasonal Treat: Onglet Steak with Cep Butter
We are enthralled to the principles of seasonality here at Swaledale. Eating what is growing now makes absolute sense to us and feeds into our ethos of a more sustainable and sensible food system. That’s why you saw us going great guns for wild garlic sausages in the spring, and it’s why we’re going hard on ceps this autumn.

Those little buns came spawning in the woodlands of Yorkshire in abundance this year. Synonymous with the change of season, finding them is a rare joy. We picked them by the bagful over the last few weeks, in such volumes, in fact, that we couldn’t possibly eat them all fresh. So our only option was to dry them, our ovens and dehydrators full and the kitchen smelling of the deep, earthy, sweet aroma of drying mushrooms.

But what to do with this seasonal bounty? Our creative cogs whirred, and after a little toing and froing, and some rather delicious tastings, our decision was made: a cep butter.

Our beautiful, dried ceps are rehydrated in hot water, the resulting liquor reduced, and the ceps finely chopped and added to the pan with that concentrated mushroom juice. Add double cream and reduce to the point of splitting before removing from the heat. Separately, good-quality butter is mixed with a smidgen of raw garlic, chopped chives, chopped tarragon, and finely diced shallots. Once the mushroom mixture has cooled, that’s folded through, then the seasoning is adjusted with salt, black pepper, and red wine vinegar in perfect harmony.

Truly delicious, and an ideal pairing with a couple of onglet steaks.

Compound butters have had something of a resurgence in recent years and are now commonplace in restaurants and bistros across the continent, a simple and classy way to enhance a piece of meat or fish. Simple, classic cooking comes from great produce and knowing how to treat it with respect.

So, with that in mind, we reckon these onglet steaks need only the cep butter melting all over them, a good pile of fried potatoes, and a little lick of beef sauce. On the side, a salad dressed in a mustard vinaigrette. Nothing else is needed, for what we have here is close to perfection.