I know... you were afraid I was posting a recipe for the first course of this fall meal... the Frog Legs with Tomato Garlic Butter. No, I will leave that for another day! (They were quite good, actually.) My favorite part of this fall meal was the Peppercorn Beef with Gorgonzola Cheese. The beef tenderloin that I purchased to cut into 5 ounce steaks was meltingly tender.
This meal goes together quickly. I served the steaks with fresh green beans which were gently boiled in the morning until done (about 5 minutes). I drained and wrapped the beans in a towel and set them aside at room temperature until dinner time. When the steaks were in the oven, I seared the beans in a hot pan with a good olive oil, then sprinkled with Fleur de Sel. Fingerling potatoes started roasting about 30 minutes before the steaks were moved from the stove-top to the oven, and were pulled and sprinkled with salt after the tenderloins were plated. Pretty simple, no?
PEPPERCORN BEEF with GORGONZOLA CHEESE
recipe from the April 2004 Food & Wine magazine
4 SERVINGS
• Four 5-ounce trimmed beef tenderloin steaks, about 2 inches thick
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 pound Gorgonzola cheese, cut into pieces
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Generously season the tenderloin steaks with salt and pat the crushed peppercorns all over them. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the steaks and cook them over moderately high heat until they are browned, approximately 4 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a rimmed baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about 12 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the steaks registers 130˚ for medium-rare meat.
2. Meanwhile, wipe out the skillet with a paper towel. Add the balsamic vinegar and the sugar and boil over high heat until the vinegar is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 3 minutes.
3. Top the tenderloin steaks with the Gorgonzola cheese and roast them for 2 minutes longer, or until the Gorgonzola is just melted. Transfer the tenderloin steaks to plates, drizzle them with the balsamic reduction and serve right away.
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