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Ingredients
- A large saucepan with a lid
- A large roasting pan
- A frying pan or another, medium saucepan
- A serving platter for the tenderloin, with a rim for the sauce
- A small, microwave-safe bowl
- A small mixing bowl
- A whisk, a basting brush (for margarine or butter) or a slotted
spoon (if you go with bacon instead of butter), a meat thermometer,
some twine, and some aluminum foil
- A six-pound tenderloin (see if the butcher can trim the fat for you)
- Two-and-a-quarter pounds of shallots
- Four or five crimini or button mushrooms
- Four or five tablespoons of olive oil (extra-light, not extra-virgin)
- Salt, (black) pepper, some garlic, etc, and three teaspoons or so of
dried thyme
- Nine or ten cups of beef broth
- Two-and-a-quarter or two-and-a-half cups of port, or alternatively,
a softer red wine like pinot noir, and few teaspoons of sugar or
Splenda
- Four or five teaspoons of tomato paste
- A tub of butter or margarine (I use Smart Balance)
- Optional: 10 slices of bacon, diced |
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Directions
A whole tenderloin is a pretty big, boneless cut, and weighs ~6 pounds
trimmed. They're pricey, but I get them at Sam's Club for about $70
(makes about 12 six-ounce servings as prepared), which works out to
$6/serving, so I guess that's not so bad. Another great part about
roasting as opposed to grilling is that it keeps very well in the
refrigerator after being cooked the first time, and you can easily cut
any leftovers into steaks and grill them another night, if you don't
need all ~12 servings the night you make it.
There are two parts to this dish, the mushroom & shallot sauce, and
the meat itself. Timing is very important between the two parts; you
want the sauce to be ready as soon as the tenderloin is the correct
temperature coming out of the oven, without overcooking either one. If
possible, have someone help you so the timing comes out right for both
parts. I'll try to note approximate times for each step as best I can.
Since this recipe involves roasting cooking oil in the oven at the
smoke point of 375 degrees, make sure your fire extinguisher is
charged and you know where it is and can get to it, before you start
cooking, just in case.
This dish should take an hour or an hour-and-a-half total, and should
be served immediately.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash, peel, and halve the shallots
lengthwise (3 minutes). Peel & wash the garlic—a few cloves should
suffice—and mince them (3 minutes). Wash & slice the mushrooms (3
minutes). Set aside.
Trim the tenderloin of all visible fat (if the butcher didn't
already), but don't cut into it (5-10 minutes). Use paper towels to
dry it as best you can so the seasonings take (2 minutes). Rub with
the thyme and sprinkle liberally with salt (if you're not using the
bacon) and less liberally with pepper (1 minutes). If you are using
bacon instead of butter late in the recipe, just use a little salt
here.
If you are not using bacon, put a liberal amount of butter in a
microwave-safe dish and zap it for a few seconds, until it is soft
enough to paint with the basting brush (but do not melt it—you want it
to do that in the oven later) (1 minute). In the roasting pan, paint
the entire tenderloin with the butter using the basting brush, then
use the twine to tie the ends back (5 minutes):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/2667187662_760286006a.jpg?v=0
You can also put some oil or butter in the bottom of the pan,
underneath the tenderloin.
If you are using bacon (instead of basting with butter), dice all 10
strips (1 minute), and put them in the bottom of the roasting pan—do
not add the tenderloin yet. Set the stove to high for a few minutes
to cook the bacon until all the drippings come out, then remove the
diced pieces with the slotted spoon and discard them (5 minutes). Add
the tenderloin to the bacon-drippings pan and lightly brown it on all
sides over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes.
If you are using bacon, start cooking the shallots and sauce now (see
below) at the same time you add the tenderloin to the bacon-juice,
since the shallots and the sauce take a little bit longer (25-30
minutes and 30 minutes, respectively) than the beef will, once it goes
in the oven (20-25 minutes).
Whether or not you used bacon, tent loosely with the aluminum foil and
transfer the roasting pan to the oven now (1 minute). It will need to
roast for about 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees if you already browned it
using the bacon drippings, or 25-30 minutes if you used butter instead
of bacon and haven't started cooking it yet.
Make sure you continually coat the meat with fat while it is cooking,
either by continuing to baste it with the softened butter & basting
brush, or by spooning the bacon drippings on top, every few minutes.
After 15-18 minutes, start using the meat thermometer to check the
temperature periodically. The meat is medium-rare and ready to come
out when the thermometer reads 125 degrees in the center (do not
overcook).
The next two steps should be completed at once, while the meat is
cooking. As I mentioned, it's best to start these two steps before
transferring the tenderloin to the oven, since they take a bit longer
than the meat needs to cook:
1. In the frying pan or medium saucepan, toss the shallots with oil
until they are coated, and season with salt & pepper (2 minutes).
Roast them over medium heat until they are very tender and fairly dark
brown, 25-30 minutes or so. After 15-20 minutes, throw in the sliced
mushrooms and the garlic, too. Stir regularly to keep everything from
burning on the bottom.
2. In the large saucepan, mix the beef broth and the port. Put the
lid on and boil for 30 minutes until the volume is reduced by half
(12~ cups to ~6 cups) and then whisk in the tomato paste.
Once the shallots and the broth are ready, it's time to combine them
to make the sauce. Put the shallots & mushrooms into the broth
saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a simmer (1 minute). Melt 4-5
tablespoons of butter in the microwave-safe bowl by zapping for 30
seconds. In the small mixing bowl, use the whisk to mix the melted
butter and 3 tablespoons of flour until you get a smooth paste (2
minutes). Whisk the paste into the sauce until it thickens (2
minutes). Be careful not to overcook the sauce.
When the beef is done, take it out of the oven and transfer it to the
serving platter. Cut the twine and discard it. Pour the sauce onto
the platter around the tenderloin and serve immediately. One serving
is a 6-oz slice (serves 12), which can be done tableside; just center
of the narrower end is the filet mignon. You shouldn't need steak
knives if everything comes out right :)
For the wine, I recommend something dry, velvety, and mature. Spicy,
bold, or tannic wines like Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Bordeaux
will easily overpower this dish: Brunello, Amarone, Burgundy, Pinot
Noir, or Syrah work well. My favorite right now is a 2004 Amarone
della Valpolicella Classico, a DOC Giuseppe Campagnola wine imported
by A. Bommarito Wines out of St Louis. It's about $30 and available
at Joe's Wine & Spirits in Cherry Hill; decant it for an hour before
serving at 65 degrees in burgundy glasses.
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