Filet w/ Turnips & Braised Kale

How is everyone's week going so far?!  It's been pretty crazy around these parts.  I'm in the process of transitioning between jobs... AGAIN. 


Working at Milkwood has proved to be a great learning experience, but the downside is that I've put in VERY long hours, and little time with my husband.  There's a lunch position (hello Monday-Friday work week!) opening up at the restaurant I used to work at, Jack Fry's, and I've gladly accepted that job.  Which totally means I'll be on the same schedule as Andy and be able to have somewhat of a life again, and not sacrificing on the quality of food that I prepare. 

It's been a whirl-wind, but I think it's all for the best.  Andy and I will just have to learn how to hang out with eachother on a regular basis again.  I'm sure we won't have any trouble with that =)

On my day off this week, I ended up making this for dinner and it was so so good.  Definitely a step up from your normal "steak and potatoes" type of dinner.

Ingredients:

2 6-8 oz. beef tenderloin filets
salt and pepper, to taste

Turnips:

1 large turnip, peeled and small dice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup veal or chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

Kale:

1 large bunch of kale, ribs removed (about 1/2 lb.)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 cup bulgur wheat, cooked
salt and pepper, to taste

The kale will take the longest, so you'll want to start with that first. 

In a medium stockpot, add the brown sugar and regular sugar.  Cook under medium low to medium heat until the sugar turns to an amber caramel.  Carefully deglaze the caramel with the vinegar and chicken stock.  Add red pepper flakes and bring mixture to a boil.

Add the kale and carrots to the pot.  Simmer for at least 30 minutes, then add bulgur wheat and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the turnips, melt the butter in a medium saute pan under medium high heat.  Add turnips and cook until edges start to caramelize.  Add stock and cook until almost evaporated and turnips are tender.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the filet, season both sides with salt and pepper.  Cook to desired temp (we grilled these babies to a perfect medium rare) and in desired manner. 

To put together, place a decent amount of the kale mixture and turnips in the center of the plate.  Top with the filet, and dig on in!

Definitely something that comes together fairly quickly and looks like you ordered it in a restaurant!  Have a great weekend, everybody!

NY Strip Steaks w/ Port Wine Shallot Butter

While blogs all over are showcasing turkey this, and turkey that, I thought I'd take a different turn.  Do something completely off the Thanksgiving track.  Steak and frites. 

Anyway, this is another simple, yet fancy meal that can be made any day of the week!

We make beurre blancs for a lot of things on our menu at Jack Fry's.  We do a country ham beurre blanc to go with oysters, a sage beurre blanc for the filet, and a tomato and chive beurre blanc for our salmon.  All of which are A-MAZING.  But I may be partial since I work there.

So it's almost second nature to me to present a dish with a beurre of some sort included as the sauce.  One of the easiest and tastiest sauces you can make, in my opinion.  I mean, really, who doesn't like something covered in butter?  Probably a health nut... but good for us, we're not of that population.

Ingredients:

2 NY strip steaks
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Port Wine Shallot Butter:

1/4 cup port wine
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 cup veal/beef stock
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. 

Heat a large oven-proof skillet (a cast iron works great for this) under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Season steaks with salt and pepper on both sides and add to pan.  Sear until nice and caramelized.  Flip steak over and transfer to oven to finish cooking to desired doneness.  We like a good medium rare-medium in our house.  Let rest for about 3-5 minutes before serving.

While the steak is finishing in the oven, you can start your sauce.  Heat a medium saucepan under medium high heat.  Add red wine, shallot, stock, and cracked pepper.  Reduce mixture to about 2 tablespoons.  Turn heat down to low and whisk in butter, a couple cubes at a time, being sure not to add more until the previous cubes are almost fully incorporated.  Continue until all butter is added.  Strain sauce of solids, if desired.  Stir in fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Top steak with butter sauce and serve with a side of your choice - we did frites.  Dig on in!

This is definitely something so simple and quite delicious!  We don't indulge in red meat a lot in our house, but when we do, we do it right!

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Beef Tenderloin W/ Broccoli/Cauliflower Hash

There's nothing more savory to me than a big hunk of beef (sorry vegetarians)! Especially a tenderloin, which when cut up is pretty much filet mignon! And don't worry you vegheads out there! I've got a Broccoli/Cauliflower Hash that is to die for (you could opt out the bacon of course to suit your needs).

Beef Tenderloin Ingredients:

1/2 cup parsley leaves
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb beef tenderloin in one piece
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups chopped cauliflower
1 lb red potatoes, cut into cubes
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 ounces sliced pancetta, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup beef stock
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white truffle oil

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine May 2009 issue

In a food processor, combine parsley, rosemary, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Process until it turns into a paste. Coat the tenderloin with the paste and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight is ideal.

In a large saucepan, bring salted water to a boil. Also, line a large bowl with paper towels and set aside. Add the broccoli and cauliflower to pot and cook until crisp and tender, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove broccoli and cauliflower from pot and place in bowl with paper towels and pat dry. Set aside.

Put the potatoes in pot and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the pot and dry potatoes. Mash the potatoes and add them to broccoli and cauliflower bowl. Mix the vegetables together well and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in medium sized skillet and add pancetta and cook until crisp, maybe 5 minutes. Stir the pancetta and oil into hash mixture.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Spread the hash mixture in the skillet in an even layer and cook until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes. Flip over hash in sections, and carefully pour remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil around edges. This will make sure the edges crisp up as well! Cook for another 3 minutes or until browned and crisp. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the tenderloin, you can either cook on a grill or pan fry in a skillet. It was raining outside, so I couldn't use the grill, so I decided to pan fry. And i liked this idea better too because I could get those juicy sucs from the tenderloin to make my sauce even better!

Unwrap the tenderloin and cut into 4 even slices, about an inch and a half thick. Season with salt and pepper and sear both sides until medium high to high heat, about 8 minutes on both sides for a nice medium rare. I use the palm method to test my steak's doneness, so timing really doesn't work very well, especially when stove heat differs for each person. Just cook it how you like it though! Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for about 5 minutes.

Now it's sauce time! With those delicious sucs you've got, deglaze your pan with the beef stock. Also stir in your mustard. Season with salt and pepper and there you have it, basic sauce! In addition to all this, I added 1 tablespoon of cold unsalted butter, this gives the sauce an added sheen and another depth of flavor. You can choose to do this or not. Set the sauce aside.

Reheat the hash in skillet until sizzling. Transfer the hash to plates and drizzle with a little bit of white truffle oil (if you've got it). Place the tenderloin steaks on top of the hash and drizzle with the sauce and serve.

Yes, there may be a ton of components to this dish, but trust me, it is WELL worth it. Very good all around! Enjoy

oh, and as an added side note, these brownies were what we had for dessert! You can find the recipe here at A Dash Of Sass!