Community Magazine April 2013

Filet Mignon au Poivre This savory dish may serve as a midweek dinner or you can save it for your Friday night menu. If you’re serving this dish alongside other main-course dishes, the portion sizes can be cut in half. If preparing this in advance, you can reheat it, uncovered, in an oven set to 175° F for no more than two hours. Filet mignon, also known as “chateaubriand,” is a French term, filet meaning “thick slice” and mignon meaning “dainty.” It first appeared in American cuisine in 1899 and is sometimes also called tournedos or medallion. Filet mignon, prized for its melt -in-the-mouth texture, is considered a kosher cut, even though it is located near the sciatic nerve. According to kosher dietary laws, it’s forbidden to eat the sciatic nerve, so it requires a very experienced butcher to separate the sciatic nerve from the filet mignon. For this reason, filet mignon is hard to obtain. If you can’t get kosher filet mignon, club steak and rib eye resemble the flavor of the well-marbled filet mignon in taste. Both of these cuts of meat work in this recipe; your butcher might even be labeling them “filet mignon.” For this recipe, I use port as the wine of choice because of its rich color, but cognac and madeira both work well, too. Ingredients: • 4 round-cut filet mignon steaks (6 oz. each) • Kosher salt • Fresh black pepper • 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce • 3 Tbsp. oil DEGLAZING SAUCE: • 6 Tbsp. shallots, finely chopped • 2 cloves garlic, minced • ¼ cup port, madeira, or cognac • 2 cups chicken stock • 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard • 2 sprigs thyme • 2 sprigs tarragon • 3 Tbsp. trans-fat-free margarine Directions: 1.Season the steaks with the salt and black pepper to taste, then sprinkle with the Worcestershire sauce. In a sauté pan, heat the oil over high heat. Sear the steaks in the oil until medium-rare or they reach the desired level of doneness, about 4–5 minutes per side. Remove the steaks from the pan. 2.To prepare the sauce: Add the shallots and garlic to the pan in which the steaks were pan-seared and sauté briefly, about 5 minutes. Leaning away from the stove, add the port, madeira, or cognac and cook for a few seconds. Add the chicken stock, mustard, thyme, and tarragon and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to scrape up all the drippings. 3.Reduce the heat to medium–high and continue to cook until the liquid is thickened and reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the sprigs of thyme and tarragon. Add the margarine and stir until incorporated. 4.Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve warm. Serves 4 Featured recipes are excerpts from CHIC Made Simple by Esther Deutsch. CHIC Made Simple is published by Feldheim and is available online and Judaica stores everywhere. NISSAN - EYAR 5773 APRIL 2013 77