Marinated Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Sea Salt Roasted Asparagus

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. My favorite, EASY way to make a steak taste special is this double marinade. It’s done in a flash. And, when people come over to our house and they see me roast asparagus, they regularly comment  by saying, “I never thought  of that!” The addition of the sea salt makes them finger licking, finger food eating good! Julia Child ate her asparagus with her fingers. Now I do too; even in a fancy restaurant!

Servings: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2, 6-8 oz beef tenderloin filets
• 1-2 Tbl of Braggs aminos
• 1-2 Tbl of organic Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of asparagus spears (I just cut them to 3 – 4” lengths and save the other part for a stir fry)
• six cherry tomatoes cut in half

Instructions:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Put your steaks in a bowl or plate with sides. Poke a few holes in the top of the steaks with a fork. Drizzle on the Braggs and then drizzle on the Worcestershire. Turn over to coat. Let them sit, room temperature for 15 minutes before cooking. Bringing meat to room temp to cook helps it cook faster and brings out more flavor. All the best steak houses do this.

Put your asparagus in a high-heat proof casserole or pan. Lightly spray with olive oil and toss. Add the tomatoes. Sprinkle the whole thing with a fresh grate of sea salt. Remember, you are not salt restricted on this diet so have at it. Put this in your oven to roast at 400 degrees. In 15 minutes your asparagus should be “crisp tender.” If you used particularly FAT asparagus, this will take a bit longer. Set your timer for 5 minutes so you know when to start the steaks and then they will both be done at the same time.

Sit and relax.

When the timer beeps, get up to make the steaks. Set your timer for 10 minutes to remind you the asparagus will be done then.

Spray your cast iron pan (or any other pan that can handle high heat in the oven) with a light spray of olive oil. Grate sea salt on your steaks.  This is another thing that steakhouses do, and they do not skimp on the salt. Add pepper if you like that.

Put your steaks in the pan. Toss out the rest of the marinade. Turn to high heat (or medium high, depending on how many BTU’s your burners are) and sear for 2 minutes. You just want a brown crust on the top. Watch them in case your stove cooks extra hot. You don’t want to burn that side. Then turn over. This is the time you are going to take the steaks and put them in the oven with the asparagus. If your pan can’t handle the heat, transfer them to a pan that can, and continue. I learned this technique from a high-end restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin about 25 years ago. This makes the most juicy, flavorful steak imaginable. I call it “steak you can eat with no teeth.” If the cut of meat was good to begin with, your steak will practically cut with a fork.

Steaks cook in this fashion about the same as they do on a grill. Weber Grills, for example, will recommend 7 minutes of cooking time for each 1” of thickness in the steak, for medium rare. So that’s about all the time you are going to need to get it to medium rare in your oven. The searing time does not count unless you want a rare steak.

You can always check your steak the old-fashioned way by cutting into it. That’s not ideal, but will do in a pinch. Otherwise I suggest you have a really good insta-read thermometer for meat. That way you can check by temperature. For medium rare I pull the steaks out at about 118 degrees. By the time you sit to eat they will be perfect — only the major pros can check when a steak is done using their finger.

Most good cooks recommend you let the meat sit for 10 minutes after it comes off the grill or out of the oven/broiler. I never seem to be able to wait that long for my meat, so I cook it to the 118 region and serve immediately (unless I still have to make the sauce).

With this steak you might have some drizzle in the bottom of the cooking pan. By all means, drizzle it on your steak after you put it on the plate!

This is a long description for an incredibly EASY meal to cook. So many people ask me the secret to a good steak, so I thought I’d throw in all the extra commentary.

Enjoy!

Cheers,