I was so happy to see that one of the local grocery stores in Tucson has Beef Tenderloin on sale this week.  We went to the store and bought 2 – one to cook for Christmas and one to freeze! 

Beef Tenderloin or when you cut it into steak portions it is know as fillet mignon is the best cut of meat – when cooked right, it can be fork tender.  When serving a crowd; figure a 1/2# per person.  At our house, we figure a 1# as we don’t eat this wonderful cut of meat very often   And if you are going to spluge on the tenderloin…you might as well make some Bearnasie sauce to drizzle over the top!

Usually beef tenderloin is sold whole in the bag.  When you go the meat department always ask the butcher to remove the silverskin and the tail.  The tail is the tougher part; but good if ground into ground beef or sliced into thin strips for beef stroganoff.   Most butchers will do this free of charge for you!  Also ask the butcher to “tie” the roast for you.  Then all you have to do is season and roast it!

Lets get started…

BEEF TENDERLOIN WITH BEARNAISE SAUCE: (recipe adapted from Tyler Florence)

1 large beef tenderloin (about 3 pounds)

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Assorted fresh herbs such as; thyme, sage and rosemary

3 cloves of garlic – minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle the tenderloin with olive oil.  Season well with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Rub on the garlic and sprinkle with assorted fresh herbs.  Allow the tenderloin to come to room temperature before cooking.  Place the tenderloin in a large skillet over medium high heat and sear tenderloin on all sides (you may need to add some additional olive oil)  Place the tenderloin on a roasting rack and place in oven.  Roast for 15-17 minutes.  At this point, a meat thermometer should read 135 degrees (thickest part of tenderloin) for medium rare, for medium roast an additional 3 minutes – Keep in mind that when you remove the tenderloin from oven and “tent” a piece of aluminum foil over it – the temperature will rise 5 degrees.  Let set for 10 minutes then slice into 1/2 inch pieces with the bearnaise sauce overtop.

BEARNAISE SAUCE:   (Bearnaise sauce is a classic french accompiant to grilled meat or fish.)

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 shallots minced

3 T. fresh tarragon leaves

3 egg yolks

1 stick unsalted real butter, melted

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

To make the reduction for the bearnaise sauce, combine the vinegar, wine shallot and half of the tarragon in a small saucepan and place over medium high heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.  Blend egg yolks and bearnaise reduction together in a blender on low speed until combined.  With the blender running on medium speed, add one third of the butter in a slow steady stream.  Once the mixture emulsifies (it will become thick and satiny), turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter.  Add the remaining rarragon and season with salt and pepper.  Pulse in the blender, transfer to a dish and hold in a warm spot until ready to serve.

First of all I would like to thank the gentleman who first brought pizza to the United States in the late 19th century~

I love pizza!  I think it should be a separate food group.  Growing up with my parents owning a grocery store; on Friday nights after they closed the store my brothers and I could each pick out our own frozen pizza and my dad would bake a whole pizza for each of us in his big convection oven.  He could bake 5 pizzas in 12 minutes!  I guess we were a little spoiled…

As I got older;  those “cardboard” frozen pizzas just weren’t cutting it anymore.  I tried the canned pizza dough that you roll out, really didn’t like that.  I then tried the packet of flour that all you had to do is add water – didn’t like that because I would load up the pizza with so many toppings that the crust was always soggy.  I then tried making whole wheat pizza dough…that almost broke a tooth.  Then I found this wonderful crispy, thin crust recipe at Robbie’s Recipe Collection  I am not a food scientist; but I think that the reason this crust works so well is that you are baking it at 500 degrees and baking it on the lowest rack in your oven.

THIN & CRISPY PIZZA DOUGH:

.25 packet active dry yeast

1/4 tsp. sugar

3/4 cup 110 degree water(if you’re not sure about how yeast works, see the “there’s nothing like a ham sandwich post”)

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine the yeast, sugar and water in mixing bowl.  Let rest for 8 minutes to let the yeast start working.  Add the flour and salt.  Mix well by hand or use a stand mixer w/dough hook.  Let set for 10 minutes covered with a towel.  Lightly spray with cooking spray a 12 inch pizza pan, stretch the dough out and top as desired.   Preheat oven to 500 degrees and move oven rack to the lowest possible rack.  Place pizza in oven and bake 8-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

NOW FOR THE SAUCE:

I always used a jarred, store bought sauce; but a few years back when I had tomatoes ripening every day in my garden, I discovered this wonderful, wonderful sauce mix.

It is hard to grow tomatoes in Arizona, so I just go to the farmer’s market’s and buy vine ripened tomatoes and I get the same results.

This is a good project as it takes most of the day; but it is so worth it!  Makes your pizza taste divine!

The mix is made by Mrs. Wages, you can click here and you can order some to try out for yourself. 

All you need to make 5 pints is:

1 packet of Mrs. Wages pizza sauce mix

5 T. granulated sugar

6 #’s fresh tomatoes

You can find the directions by clicking the link.  What I found is that I put the prepared sauce in 1/2 pint jars, this is just enough for one 12″ pizza.

NOW FOR THE TOPPINGS:

My philosophy is the more the better…even if you are using this thin crust, it will still stay crispy!

At our house, we like to caramelize our onions and red bell peppers before placing them on the pizza.  Trust me you will never want to eat plain onions and peppers again.

CARAMELIZED ONIONS & PEPPERS (this will make a large batch; but I make the whole batch as they are great on burgers, in stews and soups)

Heat in a very large skillet over medium heat until the butter is melted:

3T. real butter

3T. olive oil

Add:

3 #’s of very thinly sliced onions (can be red, white or yellow)

4 very thinly sliced red bell peppers (can be red, yellow, orange or green)

Sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp. salt

Cook, stirring constantly, 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft and brown, about 45 minutes.  If the residue from the juices has built up in the pan, add:  1/2 cup white wine or water (wine is best).  Stir to scrape the pan to dissolve the browned bits.  They will immediately mix into the veggies, darkening them further.  Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

We like to put lots of different toppings on our pizza:  sausage, Canadian bacon, jalapenos, mushrooms, olives, pineapple and of course lots of cheese!

Well now that you’ve read this whole post, I hope I have made you hungry for homemade pizza…I know I am!

Cheers!!!