Pepper-Wine Beef Tenderloin

  Home  |  Recipes  |  Diet Recipes  |  Dinner Party Menus  |  Food History  |  Culinary Dictionary  |  Diet, Health & Beauty
 

This is a very special beef roast that is sure to please the red meat and red wine crowd.

Check out all of Linda's Beef Recipes using various cuts of beef.

Pepper-Wine Beef Tenderloin

1 (3- to 4-pound) beef tenderloin roast
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole white peppercorns
1/2 cup red wine (your favorite red wine)
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Bring roast to room temperature before cooking. Trim the tenderloin of fat and silverskin.  Note: Silverskin is a silvery-white connective tissue. It doesn't dissolve when the tenderloin is cooked, so it needs to be trimmed away. If the silverskin is not trimmed off, it will cause the tenderloin to curl up into the shape of a quarter moon.

Pat the beef dry with paper towels. Lightly oil outside of roast and sprinkle with coarse salt.

In a small spice or coffee grinder, coarsely grind the black peppercorns and white peppercorns; pat mixture all over the meat, pressing with the palm of your hand.

Heat a large cast-iron frying pan over high heat. Without adding any cooking fat, brown the roast on all sides (approximately 10 minutes). When browned, remove from heat. Place the browned roast in a large baking dish and bake, uncovered, until a meat thermometer registers desired temperature (see below).

    Rare - 120°F
    Medium Rare - 125°F
    Medium - 130°F
Remove from oven and transfer onto a cutting board; cover with a tent of aluminum foil and let stand 15 minutes before carving (meat temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees after it is removed from the oven). Pour the red wine into the baking dish, scraping up any brown bits; set aside.

In the cast-iron frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the mustard and cream; bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat but keep the sauce warm.

Cut the roast into 1/2-inch slices and place them on a warm serving platter. Add the cutting juices and the red wine to the cream sauce; stir to combine and pour into a heated sauce boat. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.