While you were away, or, Beef Tenderloin with Parsley Sauce and Kalamata Tapenade
Abe says
Ann was off in Latvia-land, which is actually something more like the annual Latvian convention here in the States. She had forbidden me from making the ricotta gelato in her absence that I was planning on testing and potentially having ready upon her arrival, and so I had to occupy myself with alternative food adventures. Besides, we’re due for a post. The shoestring sweet potato fries were just OK. The garlic chips were delicious though I can see why Thomas Keller blanches them in milk, three times.
Normally, cooking for one is a depressing task, but this one worked out fairly well. Ann called just before I started plating, which was good for morale even if bad for warm food. I had been somewhat inspired by Gourmet’s grilled skirt steaks with parsley oregano sauce, though they would have to be…reinterpreted? Make better use of stuff in my refridgerator, more likely. I’ve resigned to the impending months of gray of the Seattle non-summer, and while the 10-day forecast looks lovely, evenings have been colder and I knew this had to be reflected in a still vaguely summer-appropriate meal. It’s super good but between the red meat and olive oil this is slightly rich and would be great followed up with fresh summer fruit, sorbet, or a vodka greyhound.
Beef Tenderloin with Parsley Sauce and Kalamata Tapenade
serves 2
2 5-6 oz beef tenderloin steaks
olive oil
1 1/2 cups flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1/2 tablespoon fresh
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives
2 cloves marinated garlic *
fresh lemon juice
cayenne pepper
* Marinated or pickled garlic is quite mild and here adds color and texture. It can often be found in supermarket olive bars, in jars, or at some farmer’s markets.
Preheat oven to 400°F, or not.
Season meat with salt and pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. Roast until the center reaches 130°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes depending on the thickness and temperature of the beef.
Blanch parsley in boiling water for 1-2 seconds, holding the stems and dunking into the water, and then run under cold tap water to stop the cooking; this is just to soften the leaves. Squeeze out excess moisture and tear off all but an inch or two of the uncooked stems. Purée in a blender (or awkwardly in a food processor) with oregano, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper.
Finely chop olives and marinated garlic, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and dashes of olive oil, black pepper, and cayenne.
When the beef comes out, sear it on high for about a minute on each side to add some color. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Plate a generous spoon of the parsley sauce in the center of each plate, top with a steak, a smaller spoon of sauce, and then a heap of tapenade. Serve with roasted broccoli (salt, pepper, cayenne, olive oil, 400°F for ~15 minutes) and bread with roasted garlic (whole head with the top cut off, olive oil, salt, 400°F for 20-25 minutes).
Looks tasty! But yeah, with the impending end of summer, must have more fresh fresh fruit! (To me, sorbet counts as a summer “fruit”. :-) Vodka, ewww. :-P :-)
Plating. Sigh. I’ve not spent much time on that. Would you be interested in a couple cool plates and accoutrements for plating purposes?
Meilin,
Possibly! My cabinets are almost complete full though, so I am trying to keep new stuff to a minimum. My bookshelf-pantry is already overflowing onto bookshelf-bookshelves.
Interesting writing! Do you have any opinions that you may be able to divulge to help us understand the second point a small amount further? nice one