Serves 6
Nothing speaks of celebration like a tenderloin of beef. Serve it simply with sea salt and pepper or try one or both of the sauces here. Roast the beef rare or medium rare to retain juices and that melt in the mouth deliciousness. Persillade is the French term for a mixture of finely chopped garlic and parsley. The two sauces may be made ahead and reheated when ready to serve.
Mushroom-persillade sauce:
1 1/2 cups low-salt beef stock
1 1/2 cups full-bodied red wine
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ to 2 pounds mixed mushrooms (cultivated, Portobello, shitake, porcini if available), washed and thinly sliced
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Caramelized shallot and balsamic vinegar sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 shallots, thinly sliced
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ to 1 cup beef stock, optional
Beef tenderloin:
3 to 4 pounds beef tenderloin, trimmed of fat
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To make the mushroom-persillade sauce:
Place the stock and wine in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a gentle boil and reduce the mixture to 1 cup.
Combine the garlic and parsley in a small bowl and mix well with a fork. Cove and set aside.
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, season with sea salt and pepper, toss well, and cover the pan. Let the mushrooms cook until their juices have been drawn out. Uncover the pan, drain the juices into the reduced stock and wine mixture and set aside. Let the mushrooms brown for a bit and add the garlic and parsley mixture (persillade). Mix well and cook for a minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Bring the stock-wine-mushroom juices to a boil. Taste and reduce the mixture a little bit more in the flavors are not deep enough. Pour over the mushrooms, reheat the sauce, add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, if desired, taste for seasoning. Serve with the beef or store for a later time.
To make the shallot-balsamic vinegar sauce:
Melt the butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, season with sea salt and pepper, toss well, and cook until the shallots are well caramelized, stirring often, 20 to 30 minutes. Lower the heat as the shallots brown so as not to burn them. When the shallots are browned, add the vinegar and stir. Taste and add stock if you would like a softer vinegar flavor. Reduce the mixture a few minutes to blend the flavors. Taste for seasoning. Serve with the beef or store for a later time.
To roast the beef:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Rub the beef with the olive oil and place it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast the meat for between 30 to 35 minutes, depending on the thickness of the roast, or until a thermometer reads 125° F for rare. If you prefer your meat medium-rare, cook it to an internal temperature of between 135° and 140° F. Remove the beef from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. When ready to serve, slice the beef, arrange on plates or a platter (or two platters if making both sauces), and season the slices with sea salt and pepper. Spoon the desired sauce over the slices and serve.
Recipes Copyright Deirdre Davis 2015