Chateaubriand

CHATEAUBRIAND

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 lb. center-cut beef tenderloin
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 oz. butter
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
4 garlic cloves with skins on
Sea salt (to taste)
Fresh ground black peppercorns

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub olive oil over tenderloin and season generously with salt and pepper. Using an oven proof pan or skillet on high heat, add olive oil and sear tenderloin on both sides and ends. Add butter, thyme and garlic to pan and allow it to warm through. Place pan in oven and let cook for 8 minutes. Every 2 minutes, baste meat all over and turn over. This will result in beef being rare. Adjust oven time for your preference. Remove beef from oven and allow to rest. Place a spoon inverted on a sheet pan and place beef on top allowing air to circulate around the beef to prevent beef from continuing to cook. Slice across the grain and serve with a sauce such as Béarnaise.

YIELD: Serves 2

NOTE: Prior to cooking beef, sit out at room temperature; this allows the beef to cook much quicker. Chateaubriand was created during Napoleon's time by chef Montmireil for the French author and statesman, Francois Chateaubriand. The traditional recipe calls for broiling the center portion of the tenderloin. It typically is served with a béarnaise sauce.

Below Chateaubriand Served on 04-11-09 and it was cooked rare and was about to move on the plate until I got the knife and fork into the ole boy; melt in your mouth! Served with asparagus (cheated and used canned) will not do that again; red potatoes, onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil and butter, garlic toast and Béarnaise sauce slathered onto the Chateaubriand and sipped on a glass of Chianti dry red wine:

A few sequence pixs taken while preparing the Chateaubriand:

PS: My bride likes her tenderloin medium done and did pan fry her portions to where very little pink was showing.

Another fun meal to prepare and the Béarnaise sauce was a little too salty for my taste and did not use fresh Tarragon as the recipe called for because I simply could not find any locally. The Tarragon is a spice that I don't use too often but it is required for the Béarnaise sauce. A good horseradish sauce would go very well with the Chateaubriand breaking the French tradition!

Bill aka Mickey Porter 04-11-09.