Sunday, November 27, 2011

Beef Tenderloin w/ Espagnole Sauce


Wow... I've been M.I.A. for quite some time!  It's been even busier around here, and it's hard to even wrap my head around what I've gotten myself into!

The restaurant is going quite well.  I was on the pantry line (salads & desserts, a few cold and hot appetizers) for a bit of time, and last week I started training at the grill station.  I'm having tons of fun, and learning a hell of a lot!  Which is the whole point of all of this!

Did everyone (who celebrated) have a good Thanksgiving?!  I know we did.  My whole family went down to Andy's family's Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and it went quite well.  I'm glad that our families could get together on a day like that and get along so well.

Anyway, I know everyone still might have turkey on the brain, but in honor of me training on the grill station, I thought a nice, juicy steak felt like just the thing to post.  Hopefully I'll be back sooner next time, instead of going on a three week hiatus, but who knows what the next week of life has in store for me!

Ingredients:


2 6-8 oz. cuts of beef tenderloin
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut medium dice
spinach, optional
Espagnole sauce, recipe here
salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for rubbing and drizzling

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Rub each steak with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Season your steaks with salt and pepper, on both sides.

Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Toss well and spread into one even layer.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. 

Add steaks and cook until desired doneness (I think a medium rare is perfect, about 6-8 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your cut).  Let rest on a cutting board for about 5 minutes.

Warm up Espagnole Sauce, if needed.

To plate, place a good amount of sweet potatoes on the center of the plate.  Top with steak and drizzle Espagnole sauce over top.  Serve with a side salad of spinach and some fresh bread.

This brings "meat & potatoes" to a whole new level.  It was a simple enough dinner to be ready in no time, but also one that is sure to impress dinner guests, as well!


And on a side note, a reader had asked in the comment section of the Espagnole Sauce recipe about a proper way to make a Demi Glace. 

By definition, a demi glace is half brown sauce (Espagnole), half brown stock (beef stock), reduced by half.  Easy enough right?  So for 1 cup of demi glace, use 1/2 cup of Espagnole Sauce, 1/2 cup of beef stock... bring to a boil, then let reduce until the whole mixture is 1/2 cup, or until desires consistency.

Hope to see you guys sooner than later!  And thanks for sticking around with me =)

46 comments:

  1. Glad you had a great Thanksgiving and that things are going well (even if busy). Beautiful sauce!

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  2. Looks great!
    Glad you had a good Thanksgiving with family :)

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  3. Take it easy. Priorities always change!

    I am glad the families get along, it makes a less stressful holiday season definitely :)

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  4. Hi Peggy! I had a great Thanksgiving too in California. It was just me, my husband, and my parents. So I made a Hainenese Chicken Rice dinner with some simple vegetables. My mom made a Chinese "slow fire" soup that was just absolutely comforting and delicious! I'm glad to hear that you had a good Thanksgiving too! I hope the training at the grill station is fun. A.Bourdain talks about the burns and casualties in the kitchen in his books. I hope you are in a much kinder environment!

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  5. Mmmmm that steak looks cooked to perfection and I bet that sauce is just brilliant. Don't over do it :) Diane

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  6. Your beef is cooked to perfection! A nice change from turkey :) Your Thanksgiving sounded wonderful...and glad that you're learning so much! Hope to see you again soon~

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving! I'm glad that you're learning...and it's ok to be busy. Life trumps blog! It's the way it should be!

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  8. Hey Peggy, your Tenderloin is a Recipe Guessing Game on Knapkins. Think your friends can win? http://knapkins.com/guess_games/814?source=blog

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  9. It is the Es-pan-yo-le sauce that got me really really interested. Kind of the pour the gravy into my meal kind of girl. I don't have much luck on tenderloin even with a lot of effort =( Almost always turns out not good, but I am willing to try again with a good sauce to cover up whatever will fail with my meat this time. Bring it on! I am ready to try your recipe...Thanks for sharing! (keep posting, despite the busy sched ;)

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  10. Looks wonderful! Have a great week.

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  11. This looks incredible. You really did a wonderful job on this. And I am so glad you are enjoying the job. It's great to learn new things.

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  12. After all the turkey, I'm craving red meat. This looks delicious, as always, and your words make me smile, yet again. I hope you have a blessed week and a wonderful season of joy and food and fun.

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  13. The beef tenderloin looks delish peggy!
    Tq for sharing the recipe with us and glad to hear that u having fun with ur "restauran-cooking-game" :D
    How I "evny" you!
    just to hear a little story I just iamgine how cool and fun to work in a restaurant like that! Happy for u my dear!:)
    Happy thanksgiving and have a great week ahead! ;)

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  14. Looks excellent and I'm drooling..... hahaha..
    Have a nice day.

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  15. We don't eat beef Peggy but it sure looks goods and I will go for the sweet potatoes instead.

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  16. Glad to hear you are doing well! This tenderloin looks fabulous!

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  17. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving Peggy! Your beef tenderloin looks amazing!

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  18. Glad you had a great Thanksgiving. Beef tenderloin looks delicious.

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  19. Glad things are going well for you. Also glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Great recipe.

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  20. Hi Peggy! It looks like you have busy but fulfilling life! :-) Now this tenderloin looks awesome! I like everything on this plate. Really good looking dish! It's so nice that your family get along with Andy's and you two don't have to schedule who to meet on holiday like this... you can just say "let's meet together!" and all you decide is a location that fit two families. Glad you had a wonderful holiday!

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  21. This MUST be good! Look at that sexy beef tenderloin! I'm loving your new grill station duties, can't wait to see what else it inspires :) YUM!

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  22. This looks SO delicious! Look at that rosy color :) Wonderful, and I haven't had a good espagnole sauce in ages. Great recipe!

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  23. YUMMY,,everything on the plate looks so good,I'm glad you enjoy your restaurant job,,,its fun if you do something related to your pasion :)
    Ridwan

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  24. Perfectly cooked tenderloin! Good to hear that your families were able to get together and got along well :) Congrats on the Top 9 and happy holidays to you!

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  25. I have been thinking about you; glad to know you are ok and very busy; that's a good thing.
    You sure came up with a great recipe that I have to try.
    Rita

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  26. Congrats on the top 9!! This looks completely divine!

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  27. Ooooh...that tenderloin looks perfect! After lots of turkey, I'm ready for some beef!

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  28. Great recipe! I must try it out soon!

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  29. This is incredibly mouth watering. Looks fantastic.

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  30. So happy to hear from you!! Sounds like you are having an amazing experience. It's so nice that both of your family's spend Thanksgiving together! Me and my husband's family's are like that (not with Thanksgiving, but with other holidays) and it's the best. I feel so lucky!

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  31. I'd love to spend some time practicing the classic sauces. This one looks great, the sweet potatoes make a great side!

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  32. The steak looks gorgeous - I do miss good steak (just don't have it here). BTW, did you know that in Spain they love to serve a blue cheese sauce on steaks?

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  33. You are great! Busy but still find time to share recipes with us. I’m glad you’re having a great time learning and that you had a nice thanksgiving.

    I wish I could have a piece of that steak. It’s cooked perfectly!

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  34. Wow this looks absolutely delicious Peggy, fabulous recipe!! :) If you haven’t already, feel free to check out the $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card giveaway going on right on my blog! xoxo

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  35. Peggy, this dish, whole plateful look amazingly delicious! I love your photos too!!! Well Done!
    PS. I think you are pretty ready for Grill station!!

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  36. That tenderloin looks fantastic! And thanks for the explanation about the sauce - I learned something there! :-)

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  37. Glad to hear the restaurant is going well! Sounds like you're doing great, & learning a lot. The tenderloin looks coked to perfection, the whole dish looks fantastic!

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  38. You can whip up a steak any time you like for me. It's the fastest way to my heart ;) I am making a stuffed tenderloin later this week and may need to pair it with this sauce.

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  39. I should say you really eat first with your eyes. In my case, are my eyes drooling over this one? The beef looks perfectly cooked and really tender. Good job.

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  40. Hi! This meal is fabulous! And REALLY good, simple, easy to follow, and worthy of beef tenderloin. Good luck to the two of you!

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