In honor of being able to eat solid food again, I ventured into the classical french cookbooks for … steak au poivre! I paired this with MORE AWESOME… stuffed mushrooms .. and also spinach with pearl onions.
Pepper crusted filet mignon in a brandy cream sauce with stuffed mushroom caps and pearl onion spinach.
The steak was the most time consuming portion of the evening, but surprisingly, not the best thing on the plate.
Recipe
1 filet (1.5 inches thick)
3 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 half shot of cognac
Salt appropriately
1) cover filet in loosely packed ground pepper (you should grind on the spot)
2) cook over medium heat until desired doneness (rare, medium rare – any more than that and you’re wrong) in 1 tbsp butter and olive oil.
3) Once meat is done, and evacuate meaty goodness to a plate for a moment. Inspect pan for awesome juice and beef bits. (feel free to cheat with a little beef stock if your filet doesn’t do much in the fond department. )
4) Add remaining butter, cream, and brandy. Heat. Salt. Stir.
5) Plate steak and sauce lovingly.
As much as I enjoyed the steak (which I did!!!), the real star was the mushroom. I started with
1/4 ground pork (unseasoned and please not the crap in the tube),
1 strip of smoked bacon,
1/4 cup gorgonzola,
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs.
Liberal salt and pepper.
2 large portabello mushroom caps
1) Scrape out the gills and remove the stem of 2 large portabello mushroom caps.
2) Fill loosely with mixture. (Don’t pack it tight or it will take forever to cook through.)
3) Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees until crispy, bubbly, awesome.
The spinach was just sauteed with olive oil and red pepper flakes. It was delicious, but more of an afterthought that consisted of.. ‘Where are the vitamins going to come from?!’..
Good night, all. I bid you adieu.
The Confluent Kitchen 