Tenderloin Steak with a Porcini Red Wine Sauce and Spinach Salad

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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe. This is a one-project, one-plate meal. Fancy enough for a dinner party and simple enough for a Tuesday night after work.

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups dried porcini mushrooms
• 1-1/2 cups diced shallots
• 3 Tbl virgin olive oil (divided)
• 2 Tbl roasted garlic (from the jar is fine)
• 2 lb sliced button mushrooms
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 5 Tbl butter (divided)
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 6 beef tenderloin steaks (8 oz each)
• 2 bags of baby spinach
• 36 grape tomatoes (1 pkg)

Optional:

• onion strings for garnish (See preparation instructions below)

Instructions:

Add the porcini mushrooms to a bowl with 2 cups of very hot water. You need to soften them up. You can do this earlier in the day and cover, or do it at least 30 minutes before you cook dinner.

Put the shallots and 1 tablespoon of virgin olive oil in a large pan and heat on medium high. Cook the shallots until softened. Add the garlic and stir, just to combine everything. Add the button mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they brown on the edges and you cook off most of the liquid. Add the porcini mushrooms (by this time there should be approx 1/3 cup of liquid in your pan) and stir until heated (about 4 minutes). Then add the red wine and reduce until half of the wine has cooked away. Add 3 tablespoons butter; after the butter melts add the whipping cream. Keep the heat on the stove medium high to bring the cream to a slow boil. Stir this mixture until it starts to thicken. This will take a few minutes. Turn the sauce to low temperature so you can concentrate on the steak now.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan on medium high. The reason for the butter-olive oil combination is because butter burns too easily alone. The olive oil allows you to heat the pan more. Once the butter melts, add your steaks. You can season them ahead of time with salt, pepper, or even Cajun spices. That’s up to your taste. Cook the steaks until the meat is done to your liking. A good rule of thumb for most burners is 5 minutes per inch thickness of meat for medium rare.

While steak is cooking, toss the spinach in a bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil and a little grated sea salt. Regular salt will do in a pinch. Spread the salad in a ring around the outside of the dinner plates.

When the steaks are done, let them sit off the flame for a minute to soak the juices back into the meat; then put the steak on the center of each plate. Pour the mushroom sauce over and around each steak. The juices will run under the spinach salad, but keep the salad as clean as you can to bring out the green color. Scatter grape tomatoes around the salad for more color.

The onion strings are optional; sprinkle them over the top of the steaks to give the dish a steakhouse feel.

Enjoy,

Cheers!