Roast Tenderloin of Beef with Mushrooms and Port Wine Sauce

Serves 2.

Time requirement: 30 minutes.

What you will need:

A long narrow piece of beef tenderloin, about ¾ of a pound, tied into a sausage shape with butcher twine.

1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter.

8 ounces of button mushrooms or a mix of more exotic mushrooms: oyster, king oyster, shitake, etc.

1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as light olive oil or sunflower oil.

½ cup imported Port wine.

1 cup veal stock.

1 tablespoon heavy cream or crème fraiche.

Two warm serving plates.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Pat dry the meat with paper towels. Sprinkled it with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Massage 1 tablespoon of butter onto the meat. Set the meat aside.

In a small saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to the boil.

Wash and quarter the mushrooms. (If you are using a mix mushrooms, some may not be suitable to quarter. Use your judgement.) Plunge them into the boil water and cook for one minute. Drain them. Set them on a towel.

In a 10-inch frypan, heat the butter and oil over a medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and a ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper. While tossing them regularly in the pan, cook the mushrooms for 6-8 minutes, or until they are browned. With a slotted spoon remove them to a plate.

Put them meat in the oven now. Cook the meat on a rack in a roasting pan for 10-12 minutes for rare meat. When the meat has cooked, remove from the oven. Allow the meat to rest under a foil tent for 10 minutes.

While the meat rest, complete the sauce.

Pour the fat out of the pan. Deglaze the pan with port. Reduce by two thirds. Add the veal stock. Reduce by half. Add the cream and cook 1 minute, whisking as it cooks. Return the mushrooms to the pan and keep warm.

When the meat has rested, divide the sauce between two warm serving plates, slice the meat and lay slices of the meat atop the sauce and serve.