Can you say Pan Seared Filet Mignon?

Ok… first… I tend not to eat a lot of beef.  I rarely if ever eat pork anymore.. I mostly eat chicken and fish…  but I absolutely LOVE beef tenderloin.  So we had some company this weekend and I got the opportunity to cook.  So here’s how the week went leading up to saturday. 

Sunday April 8th…

 Heather asks:  “know what you are making for dinner on saturday?” me: “huh?” (this is a little too far in advance of my typical meal planning)… 

 Tuesday comes… I think I’d like to make twice baked potatos and a mushroom sauce (I love mushrooms especially in a gravy)… Mushroom sauce tends to pair well with beef… hmm… what haven’t I made in a while… Tenderloin… that sounds good.  Just need a veggie… Asparagus sounds good… I think it may even be on sale this week…

 Wednesday:  How will I prepare the asparagus… Well I only have one oven …. Twice baked potatos… hmm… What about dessert?  Heather: Jen says she would like the chocolate creme brulee I made last year… ok that’s easy.  I can make that saturday morning and refrigerate it all day…  What do I want to do with the tenderloin…  hmm… let’s cut it into steaks and Pan sear it… that sounds good…  oh yeah… the asparagus…I broiled it the last time I made it and that was YUMMY… We’ll do that again… Ok…. Menu:

• Black Pepper crusted Filet Mignon with a mushroom sauce
• Broiled Asparagus with olive oil.  (BTW… Extra Virgin Olive Oil is awesome)
• Twice Baked potatos with Gruyere Cheese.
• Chocolate Creme Brulee

Did the shopping friday nite.

Saturday morning I’m up early… Make the Chocolate Creme brulee, Make the potatos (save the second baking until just before mealtime). slice up the tenderloin… (I bet Chuck would like tenderloin… is soft and easily eaten ).  get all the ingredients chopped and measures (Mise en place is your friend).  Guests arive with Wine… There you go… If you want more details or recipe info,  just ask I can round it out…

 The meal went great.  3.5 lbs of tenderloin were consumed…. Leftover potatos, asparagus, gravy tonite… guess I’ll make some chicken to go with   the Frog’s leap Zinfandel wins top honors to go with the main meal. 

 

Roasted Green Beans… YUM

So for those that don’t know me, I do almost all the cooking in my household…. My wife doesn’t like to cook, and I don’t like to clean and can’t apparently clean properly so pretty early on in our marriage we struck a balance… I do most of the cooking she does most of the cleaning.  It’s lead to lot’s of happiness. 

So yesterday my wifes parents came down from up North for dinner.  I made a simple dinner of pan roasted chicken breasts, baked potatos, and roasted green beans.   This post is about the roasted green beans. 

 I love roasted vegetables, to me as a vegetable roasts it gets sweeter or something… This recipe is no different.  Take some green beans  tossed in about a tablespoon or 2 of oil (Extra virgin oo works best here) and a little salt and roast in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes on a jelly roll pan then redistribute the bean and roast for another 10 minutes.  These are so good that I don’t think I’ll ever eat another french fry again