Filet Mignon with a Madeira, garlic, rosemary, mushroom reduction.

This recipe was designed for two people. When I prepared it last night for a small dinner party, I decided to “stretch” it to accommodate four people. The little 3-4 ounce filets are just enough so you can actually finish the dish without any leftovers. And with the addition of the Caesar Salad, the Au Gratin Potatoes, French Country Green Beans, and Tollhouse Brownie with French Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert...it’s plenty to satisfy even the hungriest dining guest!

Here are the ingredients for the filet part...

2 - 8 ounce filet mignons (Try to find a couple of 1 1/2 inch thick, oblong-shaped cuts.)
4 - slices of applewood smoked bacon
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 - tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh rosemary - about 2 sprigs
2 - cloves garlic
12 - small button mushrooms
3 - ounces Madeira wine
3 - ounces beef stock* (or broth)
1 - tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Cut each filet in half, giving you four, equal sized pieces. Make sure you trim off all the silver-skinned fat if it hasn’t already been done. (Shame on your butcher or grocery store if it hasn’t. At $15.99 a pound, filets should be trimmed when you purchase them!) With your hand, “mold” each filet to a round shape, and wrap each one tightly with a slice of the bacon. Secure the bacon with a length of butcher twine around the filet. Season with salt and pepper, set aside.

Make sure the button mushrooms are clean, and trim off a small amount of the stem (always do this as this end of the mushroom becomes a bit tough and hard). Dry the mushrooms with a towel. Strip enough rosemary leaves to make 2 tablespoons, chop it coarse. Peel then coarsely chop the garlic cloves.

Add the olive oil to a medium hot stainless steel sauté pan. When the oil is hot (slightly smoking), add the bacon-wrapped filets. Depending on the thickness of the cuts, brown them on each side (about 2 minutes per side). Place the pan in the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes.

Have a few sips of Cabernet Sauvignon while the filets are in the oven, chat with your guests, and tell them a good food story or two. For medium rare, the filets will be almost done at 135 degrees. Remove from the oven. Place the filets on a warm plate and loosely cover with a piece of foil...very loosely, so you don’t steam the meat. Remove all but a tbsp or two of the oil and place the pan on medium high heat. Sauté the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, then add the rosemary and the garlic for another minute or so. Don’t let the garlic burn, it will be bitter if you do. With the pan still on medium high, add the Madeira wine and deglaze the pan (scraping any brown color off the surface) for about 30 seconds. Add the stock and continue to boil, reducing the liquid by at about half. Make sure you shake or stir the pan occasionally. Just before serving, add a tbsp of unsalted butter to the pan, stirring while it melts and incorporates into the reduction.

For plating...remove the butcher string from each filet, place a small amount of the pan reduction liquid in the middle of each plate, put the filets on the liquid. Then evenly divide up the mushrooms, the garlic, and the remainder of the reduction on all four filets.

Sorry, no photos. Since we had guests, I chose not to subject them to my frenetic food styling photo antics. Opting instead to simply sit down and enjoy our dinner while it was still hot!

*Note: If you have demi-glace, use this instead of stock. This will decrease pan reduction time and greatly improve (intensify) the final flavor. There really is no comparison...but making demi-glace is a long, involved process that most people just don’t do. I’ve heard you can buy demi-glace already made, but I’ve never tried it.