Cooking for JeffreyI was watching the Today Show last week and Ina Garten was on plugging her new cookbook, Cooking for Jeffrey. As part of that, she made Filet Mignon with Mustard and Mushrooms. I’m a big fan of Ina’s cookbooks, never having a recipe turn out poorly however, I rarely use her recipes now because they are so fattening! But since I’m not on program at the moment, recovering from a bad cold, and since we were originally supposed to eat out to celebrate our anniversary, I didn’t feel bad about indulging a bit.

It was a little intensive in that you have multiple skillets going plus the beef but I just had everything prepped and measured before I started so the actual cooking part came together quickly, in like 20 minutes. Chris said it’s the best filet I’ve ever made and he loved the sauce.

Oh, the other thing to note, where she used dijon mustard and a bit of whole grain mustard, I just used a fancy mustard with truffles we bought at the new Maille Store in the Flat Iron area of Manhattan.

Ina Garten's Filet Mignon with Mustard and Mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 4 (2-inch-thick) filets mignons, tied (10 to 12 ounces each) I didn’t tie them but wish I had
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fleur de sel (aka sea salt)
  • 2 teaspoons coarsely cracked black peppercorns
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 12 ounces cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces (I used more, we like mushrooms and mine were baby bellas)
  • 2 tablespoons dry sherry
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon good olive oil
  • 0.5 cup minced shallots (2 large shallots) – I only had 1 large shallot, it was fine.
  • 3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy – I used Brandy
  • 1 1/4 cups cups heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (again I used the truffle mustard which was amazing).

 

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
  2. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Pat the filets dry with paper towels and brush all over with the canola oil. Combine the fleur de sel and cracked pepper on a small plate and press the filets on the top and bottom to coat. When the skillet is very hot, add the filets and sear evenly on top and bottom, about 2 minutes per side.
  3. Transfer the steaks from the skillet to a jelly roll pan (set the skillet aside) and place in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, until the steaks register 120 degrees on a meat thermometer for medium rare.  We had ours in the oven for 12 minutes and they were rare – maybe ours were thicker. Who know.s Remove from the oven, cover the sheet pan tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes – Chris was fond of telling me that Meathead disagrees with letting meat rest.
  4. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a medium (10-inch) saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until they release their juices. Stir in the sherry and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and set aside. Honestly, next time, I may just do this step ahead.
  5. At the same time, add the olive oil to the skillet you browned the filets in (don’t wipe it out), add the shallots, and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the Cognac, stirring to deglaze the skillet, and cook for 2 minutes, until the Cognac evaporates and the shallots are tender. Stir in the cream and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the mustard and taste for seasonings.
  6. Remove the strings from the filets and place on dinner plates.
  7. Spoon the mustard sauce over the filets and top with the mushrooms. If you want to be fancy, sprinkle some fresh parsley on top (I did not do this).

Again, these were delicious and I would totally make them again!