I love reading other peoples' baking & cooking blogs. So, I decided to document some of my adventures in learning to cook. This week I made Kyle mushroom-blue cheese tenderloin. I'm not all that experienced in working with beef, but it turned out surprisingly well!
Prep time: 10 minutes + marinating
Bake: 45 minutes
Yield: 10 servings (1 1/2 cups sauce)
Ingredients:
Meat
1 1/2 cups soy sauce
3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 beef tenderloin (3 1/2 - 4 lbs)
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed beef broth, undiluted
sauce
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled blue cheese
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. caraway seeds
4 green onions, chopped
Kyle and I looked at 2 different grocery stores for a beef tenderloin, and we came up empty handed. So, we decided to just try the recipe with beef loin new york steaks. (In case you're wondering *spoiler alert* it turned out great!)
Before I got started, I set out all of my marinating ingredients, and my supervisor got into place!
If you're able to get the beef tenderloin suggested in the recipe, you won't have to debone your meat. But, because we went a different direction, the bones had to go!
In a large, resealable plastic bag (or, in my case, a dish that could be covered) combine soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add the beef ...
Seal the bag, and turn the meat to coat. Refrigerate teh meat for 2 hours, turning occasionally. (I turned the meat about every 30 minutes).
Drain the beef and get rid of the marinade! Rub the beef with garlic and pepper ...
Then place hte beef in a shallow roasting pan. Add broth to the pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 45-55 minutes - or until the meat reaches your desired level of doneness. For medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145; medium, 160; well-done 170. Let the meat stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
And the supervisor is still keeping watch ...
Now on to the sauce that makes it so yummy! While the meat is cooking, find a small saucepan and melt the butter. Then add mushrooms and garlic to the pan - and saute until they're tender.
Once tender, add the blue cheese, Worcestershire sauce and caraway seeds.
Kyle and I weren't sure what caraway seeds were (and spent some time looking for them at the grocery!) They add a little kick to the sauce, so they're not just garnishment, but you could probably choose to use them or not depending on your taste.
Cook the sauce and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted. Then stir in the chopped up green onions, and serve the sauce with your beef!
While I was cooking the meat, I worked on homemade mashed potatoes, lima beans, and breadsticks. I have a special ways of making mashed potatoes - they're wonderful - but I'm not sharing that right now :)
I will share a secret about the bread, though. I buy the Pillsbury refrigerated breadsticks and some spreadable cheese (like a Laughing Cow brand).
This time I chose Garlic & Herb cheese. If you roll out the breadsticks, you can rub a thin layer of the spreadable cheese on the breadsticks. Then curl the breadsticks like the instructions show. It gives them a little extra flavor when they're done!
And, the finished product looked something like this:
Last night, Kyle went with the other coaches from Pacific Palisades to a football game - they were watching a rival team who had their first game. Joan and I took the opportunity to bake mini pies!
We made our pies - and the crusts - from scratch :) We decided to make s'more pies and fudge pies.
The s'more pies came first. The filling part of these pies was simple - chocolate, marshmallows, and whipped cream. We had a lot more trouble with the graham cracker crust.
If you're ever wanting to make mini pies that need graham cracker crusts, I would suggest purchasing the pre-made crusts. These home made ones were difficult to shape into the pan (my mini cupcake maker), and then they swelled up! No worries, we pressed them back down and got the s'more filling in, but it was a task!
As you can tell, we tried to get one out too soon, and it didn't work well...
my supervisor is diligent, and she stuck it out for the mini pies as well!
Then we moved on to the fudge pies. These were much more successful! The crust was homemade. We used a recipe from my Aunt Regina, rolled it out, and used a cookie cutter that came with my babycakes machine - so the crusts were the perfect size!
Then the filling ...
And when they were finished, they passed inspection!
Stay tuned for more cooking adventures and recipes :)
In personal news, Kyle had his first scrimmage that was against another team on Friday, and they won! I got my first Law Review subcheck, and my trial team case came in this weekend! Our regional competition is at the end of November, and Nationals (if we make it) are in late January.
I am in the process of applying for jobs following graduation. If you know of anyone involved with a litigation firm that needs help, please pass along my information (or send me theirs)! I prefer the Nashville area, but I am flexible in the Southeast region.
Tomorrow we are going to the Malibu Chili Cookoff with Joan, Tracy, Adam, Erin, Robert, and Brad. There are always lots of celebrities at the cookoff, plus good food and carnival games & rides. Kyle has Monday off work, so we get to spend a couple full days together. We are still going to church in Simi Valley, and we are placing membership there soon!
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