The Showstopper: Herb-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

If you ever need to make a dinner to impress someone or you just want a really amazing meal, this is the dish to make.

I came across this recipe for herb-crusted beef tenderloin in the holiday issue of Entertaining from Cook's Illustrated. I'm usually enticed as soon as I hear the word beef, and tenderloin clearly ups the ante. Add herb-crusted, and it's pretty unlikely that I'd be able to resist.

So on a random Sunday afternoon, following a trip to the new Whole Foods in Dedham, Mass. (one of my new favorite places), I made this for dinner just for my boyfriend and me. It wasn't a special occasion, but if you saw the spread, you would have been fooled. I still can't believe how incredible this meal was.

Like all Cook's Illustrated recipes, this one was tested and retested until it could be called perfect. Even someone like me, who cooks but isn't necessarily great at getting meat to the right doneness and things like that, can execute this recipe flawlessly.

It didn't hurt that this was actually the first time I relied on the temperature probe that came with the oven. If you have one, and you haven't used it before, start now. All I had to do was stick the probe into the middle of the tenderloin, set the desired temperature, and as soon as that temperature was reached, the oven let me know. It's the easiest thing ever.

Cook's Illustrated still hoards recipes rather than offering them online for free like Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Everyday Food, Martha Stewart Living, and virtually any other magazine with recipes; however, I made this one on a smaller scale and it isn't exactly Cook's Illustrated's tried and true version, so below I'm giving you my herb-crusted beef tenderloin for two recipe.

I can also offer you something Cook's Illustrated doesn't: these beautiful, full-color, step-by-step pictures!

Herb-Crusted Beef Tenderloin (adapted from Entertaining from Cook's Illustrated, Holiday 2009 issue)

Note: While the recipe is fairly simple to execute, it does take a lot of time. You'll want to give yourself 3 1/2 to 4 hours, from start to finish.

Ingredients

1 1 1/2-pound beef tenderloin, tied with twine
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 slice of white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced


Preparation

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon pepper, and sugar. Rub mixture all over tenderloin. Place tenderloin on a wire rack set inside a sheet pan. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. (This part made me really nervous, but if Cook's Illustrated says it's okay, I figured it must be okay.)


Toward the end of the 2 hours, pulse bread in food processor until fine crumbs form. Place crumbs in medium bowl and add 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix well.


Clean food processor bowl and process remaining 3 tablespoons parsley, 1 tablespoon thyme, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and garlic until smooth paste forms. Transfer to a small bowl.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roast tenderloin for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and cut and discard twine.


Using a rubber spatula, spread the herb paste over top and sides of tenderloin.


Press the bread-crumb topping over the herb paste.


If using oven probe, insert into meat and set oven to alert you when the meat has reached 130 degrees (otherwise check meat with a meat thermometer until it reaches 130 degrees). The meat should be cooked to medium rare and the topping will be golden brown. This should take 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove roast from oven, and let rest for 30 minutes.


Transfer meat to cutting board, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices.


Savor every last bite!


The only change I would make is to cook the meat a little less because I like my meat rare. The middle pieces were nearly perfect for me, and the ends were great for my boyfriend who prefers his meat more on the medium side, though I'm slowly convincing him that rare meat has so much more flavor and is safe when made under the right conditions.

We ate this with crispy homemade potato latkes (also a CI recipe) and steamed broccoli. Everything tasted way too good for a random Sunday dinner, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. And I can consider it the test dinner. Now that I've made it once, I know I can make it again and serve a showstopping meal when we have company.

What's your showstopping meal?

Potato And Autumn Vegetable Hash

This recipe is billed as a Thanksgiving side in the November issue of Bon Appetit. If you can get your guests to give up the usual candied yams and mashed potatoes or get them to eat this too, you might want to try it for a stunning sideshow to your roasted turkey.

I just made it to bring for my work lunch because it's full of great vegetables that I love. I feel bad that it didn't get all the attention it's due. But at least I can share it with you here, and you can see all the beautiful, indescribable colors in the dish. And maybe you'll make it yourself and then you'll taste the extraordinary, integrated flavors of the veggies.

I tried two weekends in a row to get Chioggia beets, those candy-striped ones. I was disappointed I couldn't find them because I've never had them before and because I thought their cute candy stripe would add something to the appearance of the dish. I also couldn't find baby beets, which clearly would have been much cuter.

The recipe suggests all golden beets if you can't find Chioggia beets, but I went with golden and red. But if you're making this for someone other than just yourself (or you're not serving it right away), you may want to stick with all golden beets. The red ones will eventually turn the rest of the vegetables pink.

I also didn't want to use the beet greens -- I'm not a huge fan -- so I threw in a few handfuls of baby spinach instead.

Potato and Autumn Vegetable Hash (adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2009)

Ingredients

Herb oil:
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (forgot to buy this and used some dried oregano)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Hash:
3 golden beets
2 red beets
1 2-pound butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch or 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch or 1-inch cubes
1 pound garnet yams or other yams peeled, cut into 1/2-inch or 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 or 3 handfuls of baby spinach, not cooked

Preparation

For herb oil:
Whisk all ingredients in small bowl. Set aside.

For hash:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut greens and stems off all beets (if attached); discard. Scrub beets; place in 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Pour half of herb oil over beets; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover baking dish with foil and roast beets until tender when pierced with small sharp knife, about 1 hour.


Remove from oven and let beets stand until cool enough to handle. Peel beets; cut into 1/2-inch pieces and reserve.


Increase oven temperature to 375°F. Combine squash, potatoes, and yams in large bowl. Add remaining herb oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Spread vegetable mixture evenly on large rimmed baking sheet (I just threw them in a dish and tossed them occasionally). Roast until vegetables are tender when pierced with knife and lightly browned around edges, stirring and turning vegetables occasionally, about 50 minutes.


Stir beets and baby spinach into roasted vegetables; dot with butter cubes and continue to roast just until beets are heated through, 5 to 10 minutes.


Then serve! Or if you're like me, portion it into plastic containers, so you can bring it for lunch. It's still good after being rewarmed in the microwave. The herb oil gives the veggies more flavor, and the sweetness of the beets enhances the whole dish. If you want to keep it healthier, I'm sure you could skip the butter and just add a bit more olive oil.


What are your favorite autumn veggies?

Apple-Braised Turkey

Sticking with the apple theme but thinking ahead to Thanksgiving dinner, I wanted to share this apple-braised turkey dish that I made not too long ago. I don't recommend that you use this recipe for your Thanksgiving main attraction (as there's something traditional and stunning about a roasted turkey), but I do think it's great for getting in turkey mode. I don't know about you, but I don't really eat turkey besides on Thanksgiving. There are maybe a couple other times during the year when I'll have it, and sometimes I'll have turkey burgers or meatballs or deli turkey, but I think I eat less turkey than any other common meat or poultry.

It's nice to shake up the dinner routine every now and then with something not so usual. This recipe is supposed to be made with turkey thighs, which I really think would be best because of the slow cook time, but we couldn't find any. I then thought I'd make it with bone-in, skin-on turkey breasts, but there were none of those either, so I used boneless, skinless breasts. They worked out pretty well but definitely needed some extra spoonfuls of the pan sauce so they didn't dry out on the plate.

I also just used the apples I had instead of buying Granny Smiths like the recipe called for. I'm not even sure what kind I used, but they didn't hold their shape during the cooking process, so we ended up with a sort of loose applesauce as the pan sauce. It was delicious, but if you want to end up with apple wedges instead, then try the Granny Smiths.


Apple-Braised Turkey (adapted from Everyday Food, October 2009)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 boneless, skinless turkey breasts (about 2 pounds)
salt and pepper
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
4 apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
2 cups apple cider
14.5 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons cider vinegar


Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season turkey with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add turkey and cook until lightly browned on both sides.


Transfer turkey to a plate, and add shallots to Dutch oven. Saute shallots until softened, about 5 minutes.


Add apples, and cook for 5 minutes more.


Return turkey to the pot.


Then pour the cider and broth over everything.


Bring mixture to a boil. Then cover the pot and place in preheated oven. Cook for an hour and a half covered, and then uncover and cook for an additional 30 minutes.


Plate turkey (right on your dinner plates to prepare to serve it is fine). Then skim any fat off the liquid in the pot, and add the cider vinegar. Top turkey with the pan sauce.


I made some sliced potatoes with garlic and rosemary to go alongside this. The turkey dish was very tasty. As I said above, the turkey wasn't all incredibly moist, but spoonfuls of the pan sauce, which was slightly sweet and applesauce-like really brought the whole dish together and added the necessary moisture to the meat.

Do you eat turkey very often? Have you ever cooked it in an interesting way like this as opposed to just roasting it?