Ring the New Year in Right: Beef Tenderloin with Blender Bearnaise Sauce

Ok ladies, today I am going to stretch the term frugal to mean time. Cause with this recipe, it sure as sherbet doesn't mean money...

Tenderloin is Fillet Mignon all in one piece, and it is tender and lean and lovely.

Correct me if I'm wrong but about the only thing worse than spending a hundo on a piece of cow would be to make it dry and tough, so just to be sure I don't screw it up I wrap the whole thing with bacon. Carnivores unite!



Here's how to do it:

Roasted Beef Tenderloin
to serve about 10 people (without leftovers)

1 5 pound tenderloin, trimmed and tied with cotton kitchen string.
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground five pepper blend
4-5 strips bacon

Remove the tenderloin from the fridge and bring to room temperature, about 1 hour. By having the meat at room temperature, it will cook more evenly.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the tenderloin on a foil lined cookie sheet or other shallow baking pan. Smear the meat with the mustard, then sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
Drape with the bacon.

Roast for 18 minutes for medium rare meat. After about 14 minutes start to check for doneness. For medium rare the meat should still have some give when pressed with a finger.

Let the meat rest, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes before carving into 1 inch thick pieces.

Serve with Blender Bearnaise Sauce, a 1960s innovation that I'm pretty certain Joan Holloway could whip up without a recipe....

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, or 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tablespoons minced onion or shallot
3 large egg yolks
2 sticks butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Bring the vinegar, wine, tarragon and onion to a boil in a small pan. Continue to boil until the mixture boils down to a few tablespoons of thick and syrupy liquid.
Set aside off the heat to cool.

Whirl the egg yolks in a blender until thick and creamy. Slowly add the vinegar reduction while the blender is running. After a few seconds start to drizzle the melted butter into the running blender. Continue to dribble in the butter until it is all incorporated. Continue to run the blender until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the salt and pepper and whir to combine. Taste and correct seasoning.

Will keep at room temperature for an hour or two, but cover with plastic to prevent a skin from forming.

Note: if you haven't been, take a trip to Concord Beef and Seafood--a little shop tucked into a strip center on Main Street. Run by a couple of thoroughly decent guys, they specialize in top quality protein, as they say on Top Chef.

For Christmas dinner we spent $20 a pound for a tenderloin that was expertly trimmed and tied. for $95 we got dinner for 7 and two days worth of sandwiches.

Frivolous? Of course. Delicious? You bet your ass.

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