Filet Mignon with Pepper Cream Sauce

1/4 cup coarsely crushed black peppercorns
4 (6 ounce) beef tenderloin filets, 1 1/2 inches thick
salt to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1-2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup heavy cream
Preheat an oven to 275F.

Place the peppercorns into a shallow bowl. Sprinkle the beef tenderloin filets with salt on both sides, and coat both sides with crushed peppercorns. Place the filets on a cutting board or dish and cover with foil. Let the filets sit at room temperature for 45-60 minutes.

After the filets have warmed, place them in a pan and put the pan in the pre-heated oven. Cook the filets until they have reached an internal temperature of 95F (12-15 minutes). Once the filets have reached an internal temperature of 95F, take the filets out of the oven.

Melt the butter with the olive oil over high heat in a heavy skillet until the foam disappears from the butter. Gently place the steaks in the pan, and cook until they start to become firm and are reddish-pink and juicy in the center, about 3 1/2 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 130 degrees F (54 degrees C). Remove the steaks to platter, and cover tightly with foil.

Cook the shallots in the pan for 1-2 minutes, then pour the beef broth into the skillet, and use a whisk to stir the broth and scrape up any dissolved brown flavor bits from the skillet. Whisk in the cream, and simmer the sauce until it is reduced and thickened, 6 to 7 minutes. Place the steaks back in the skillet, turn to coat with sauce, and serve with the remaining sauce.

Cook's Notes: This was an easy and incredibly easy dish to make. It has an incredibly sophisticated taste but it could not be easier to make. We served this with a bottle of Educated Guess Cabernet.

Saturday night salad

Saturday night, we had friends Yvonne and Gary over for dinner.  Paul made a magnificent honey and rosemary rack of lamb.  Yvonne asked to bring the salad and how happy we were that she did.  WOW.   You need to make this sometime.  

Radicchio with blue cheese and pears 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar
1 T honey
2 small radicchio, ends trimmed and leaves separated
2 small beurre bosc pears, quartered, cored and cut into thin wedges
Blue cheese crumbled  (No amount here ... I love blue cheese so more is better.  You can decide on amount based on your personal taste)
1/4 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Mix everything.  Eat.  It's amazing.  

Baked Potato Soup

I really felt like some soup today.  It's been overcast, dreary, feeling-colder-than-it-is kind of cold, damp cold, lugubrious.  Our soup days are coming to an end (hip, hip, hooray) so I thought I would take advantage of the weather.

Saturday night, I made a fabulous meatloaf and decided on baked potatoes to go with it.  Having seen this recipe earlier in the day,  I threw a couple extra potatoes in to bake.  I am SO GLAD that I did.

Baked Potato Soup courtesy of Allrecipes.com.

3 bacon strips, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

Directions
In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Cook's notes
Because I can never really follow directions, here are a few changes that I made.
I never took out the bacon.  And I am really glad that I didn't.
I used 4 cups of chicken broth instead of 3.
I should have used a few more potatoes.

It is fantastic.  And really easy.

Pork-a-Palooza

This weekend we went hog wild. Using the pork that we purchased last year, we made the following dishes for dinner each night:

Friday Night: Parmesan and Sage Pork Chops
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rosemary-Sherry-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx
We followed this recipe to the letter. To our surprise the Parmesan cheese adhered quite well to the chops.

Saturday Night: Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rosemary-Sherry-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx
Truth be told, Deirdre and I did not make the sauce per the recipe. I bought a bottle of Sweet baby Ray's BBQ sauce and poured it over the ribs. The meat cooked for 8 hours and it was literally falling off the bone.


Sunday Night: Tangy Slow Cooker Pork Roast
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tangy-Slow-Cooker-Pork-Roast/Detail.aspx

We have yet to enjoy Sunday night's meal, but I can tell you that our dinners on Friday and Saturday night were nothing short of outstanding. Here are a few images of what has become known as Pork-a-Palooza:

Easy Slow Cooker French Dip

INGREDIENTS
4 pounds rump roast
1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French
onion soup
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
6 French rolls
2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS
1. Trim excess fat from the rump roast, and place in a slow cooker. Add the beef broth, onion soup and beer. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Split French rolls, and spread with butter. Bake 10 minutes, or until heated through.
4. Slice the meat on the diagonal, and place on the rolls. Serve the sauce for dipping

Cooks Notes
I used Founders Centennial IPA.

From 2011-02-20

And I used Beef Consume' and French Onion Soup.

From 2011-02-20

I did not trim the fat.  Ours didn't have that much on it.  It looks and smells magnificent.

Parmesan Sage Pork Chops

Rockin' Saturday night.  Pork Chops.  Sweet.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 bone-in pork loin chops
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a shallow dish, combine the flour, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, sage and lemon peel. Place egg in shallow bowl. Coat pork chops with flour mixture, dip in egg, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In a skillet, brown chops in oil and butter for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F.

Cook's notes.  

The coating totally sticks to the chops in the browning process.  I was happily surprised. 

You could use less bread crumbs/cheese.  It's enough for like 8 chops.
I would add a little more lemon zest and maybe even take the lemon and squeeze it into the egg wash.
We would add one more herb next - maybe rosemary because we love it so.  Tarragon would also be good. 

It was fantabulous.  Served with long grain rice, green beans and salad.
And of course wine. 

Chinese Pot Roast

Really.  Pot Roast.  You see, we have this cow in the basement and there are cuts of beef that I didn't envision cooking.  But I was wrong.  Another short coming,  I am not very good at following directions.  I think that I can always make something better, stronger, more better.  Yes, really - more better. Until now.  This recipe is unbelievable.  

Courtesy of Allrecipes.com (cuz you know that I don't make this good stuff up)  :)

1 (4 pound) boneless beef chuck roast
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups water
3/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Coat the chuck roast with garlic salt, pepper and mustard powder. Heat the oil in a large oven-proof skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the roast and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
In a medium bowl, stir together 3 cups of water, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, ginger and celery seed. Pour over the roast and then cover the roast tightly with a lid or aluminum foil.

Bake in the preheated oven until the roast is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

When the roast is done, remove it from the pan to a serving plate. Set the pan of drippings over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Stir together cornstarch and 1/4 cup of cold water. Pour into the boiling liquid and stir until thickened, about 1 minute. Serve the roast with the gravy poured over.

COOKS NOTES
I added beef broth instead of water. That was a mistake.  Next time, I will add 2 cups water and 1 cup beef broth.  Or maybe, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of wine and 1 cup of beef broth.  Depends what's in the house.

We added carrots.  They were fabulous.  I would add more next time.  And we served it with plain white rice and a side salad.

IN THE GLASS
Wine. Any hearty red will do. Actually, any wine will do. Enjoy.