Home Cookin' in Atlanta

Every year my family and I make the trek to Atlanta to enjoy some southern hospitality with family friends. We try to make it an indulgence as we only get together once a year.

For dinner this year we had an herb-roasted tenderloin and herbed goat-cheese potatoes.

Me and Sous...

Get a couple of big reds and decant them for this meal...

I had e-mailed the recipes to my co-chef a few days before so he got all of the hard work out of the way. The recipe is shown below for the tenderloin.
Herb- and Spice-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine-Shallot Sauce
Bon Appétit December 1996

Here's a special-occasion roast enhanced with classic Provençal seasonings. Serve this elegant dish with Scalloped Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Herbes de Provence and a sauté of green beans, zucchini and red bell pepper. Uncork a sophisticated Rhône red such as Hermitage or Crozes-Hermitage.

Yield: Serves 8


Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups sliced shallots (about 12 ounces)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
3 1/4 cups canned beef broth
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1/4 cup brandy
Tenderloin
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
1 large shallot, peeled, quartered
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 2-pound (large end) beef tenderloin pieces, trimmed
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature


For sauce:

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add shallots and garlic; sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in sugar; sauté until shallots are golden, about 15 minutes longer. Add flour, herbs, orange peel, nutmeg and cloves; stir 1 minute. Pour in broth, wine and brandy. Boil until sauce is reduced to 1 3/4 cups, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Chill.)
If you remember the veal demi I made a few posts ago I substituted that for the canned broth. It was worth the extra pound of luggage.

For tenderloin:

Grind first 10 ingredients in processor. With machine running, add oil and blend well. Spread mixture evenly over all sides of tenderloins. Place beef in large glass baking dish. Cover with foil; chill at least 6 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place beef on rack in large roasting pan. Roast until meat thermometer inserted into center of beef registers 125°F for rare, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with foil; let stand 10 minutes.

Transfer beef to cutting board. Pour any accumulated juices from roasts into sauce. Bring sauce to boil. Remove from heat; whisk in butter. Season with salt and pepper. Slice beef. Serve with sauce.

This is the payoff for all that hard work...