NET RECIPES
Tenderloin Filet Au Poivre
This recipe, like my 'altered' meuniere, is also stabilized or thickened with flour - to give sauce more body but also to enable it to hold in various cooking environments and timing scenarios. If you're skilled, feel free to leave out the flour and add butter only at end to mount the sauces in the French manner. Additionally, I leave out the traditional cognac or brandy from this sauce, and do not add any other seeds in the coating (some people use white or even green peppercorns or fennel seed in addition to black pepper). This recipe is dependant upon the nutty unctuousness of the creme fraiche, and for which I owe the recipe/inspiration debt like so many others to my buddy chef David Tanis. If you absolutely can't get it, use straight heavy cream (the heaviest you can buy) and cook sauce longer instead, but never use sour cream as it will curdle. The cooking of the pepper and overall steak flavor is best achieved over a grill outdoors, you can do this in a grill-ridged pan in a pinch, but be prepared for a lot of smoke in your kitchen!
Serves 4
3 tbsp. black peppercorns
4 eight ounce beef tenderloin fillets
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
Sauce:
2 1/2 tbsp. butter
3 cups "dark roasted meat and bones" beef stock, preferably made from scratch (if you don't have/want from scratch,
I'd recommend buying Better Than Bouillon Beef Base and mixing it up
at about 4x strength or even stronger) - this product can be found at Albertsons as well
1/2 cup creme fraiche
Step 1: Reduce beef stock over high heat until about 2/3 cup remains. If using beef base, simply add a scant tablespoon of beef base to 2/3 cup of hot water.
Step 2: Crush black peppercorns using one of the following methods
Method one (easiest): Use an adjustable pepper mill that will give you a VERY coarse grind. Ideally, you want each peppercorn broken into three to six pieces. I like the coarse and extra coarse settings on William Bounds, Ltd. pepper mills for this.
Method two (the workout): In a heavy-duty sealable plastic bag or between 2 sheets of wax paper crush peppercorns with bottom of a heavy skillet.
Step 3: Coat both sides (but NOT edges) of steaks with peppercorns, then drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt. Grill to desired temperature while finishing sauce
Sauce:
If you're with me on the non-traditional approach, start in a medium saucepan with butter and about 1 1/2 tbsp of flour.
Whisk while cooking flour over medium heat for 2 minutes.
If you're traditional, or done with your roux step, add in the hot, reduced beef stock while whisking.
Add fresh ground black pepper and optionally a splash of cognac or brandy to taste.
Let cook for another minute then whisk in the creme fraiche and simmer for another minute.
At this point, non-traditionalists can spoon the sauce onto a plate and place the grilled steak on top.
Traditionalists can do their best to mount butter into the sauce at this point, since they haven't yet put the sauce butter in. Then spoon and serve.
This is fabulous with a Potato Gratin Dauphinois or grilled, roasted, halved rosemary garlic new potatoes and a frisee salad with orange juice roasted beets. The same recipe works wonderfully with fresh tuna loin as well. An alternate sauce is to mix grated fresh horseradish root and a little prepared horseradish into creme fraiche (or a combination of half heavy cream/half sour cream) and serve that as your (thicker) sauce on the side.
Dinner Menus by Samsunshine Levy
NET RECIPES
Appetizers
Fantastic NET Caesar Salad
Orange-Ginger Shrimp Ceviche
Salt Cod Brandade (Baccala/Bacalao)
Main Dishes
Chipotle Pork Posole Stew
Dover Sole (or Tilapia) "Meuniere"
Tenderloin Filet Au Poivre
Easy Summer Grilled Pizza
Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino con Gamberoni, Zest and Body!
Soup & Sides
Famous NET MAN Steamed Broccoli
Perfect & Easy Tuscan White Bean Soup
Bacon Mustard Brussel Sprouts
Creamy Polenta
Crunchy Vegetarian Quinoa Tabouli
Drinks
Limoncello
Dark and Stormy cocktail
Homemade Santa Fe Hot Cocoa Mix now with the power of chipotle
Dark Rum Egg Nog
Sweets
Apple Scone Cobbler
Nina's Birthday Cardamom Peach Cobbler
Italian Semifreddo Cassata
Rich & Dark Pecan Pie
Easy No-Bake Chocolate Pots de Creme
Moistest German Chocolate Cake
Christmas Morning Bacon Doughnuts
Paste di Meliga (Italian Cornmeal Cookies)
Even More Foolproof Vodka Pie Crust
Ginger Pecan Pie
