Laura's Craving - Filet Mignon with Cherry Vanilla Sauce

I talked to my neice, Laura, on the way home from work today. She's about 32 weeks pregnant and was telling me about her food cravings. She said up until now, they were the typical ... REALLY want a steak, or REALLY want cherry pie filling ...

Now, however, she said she REALLY wants steak WITH cherry pie filling.

I did a little research and here's what I'm making for dinner. Wish you could be here, Laura!

Filet Mignon with Cherry Vanilla Sauce

Fire up the grill and crank some freshly ground pepper over filets.

For the sauce:

In a saucepan, combine just over a cup of Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon (I used the Noir) with:

A couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Half of a vanilla bean (that your co-worker brought you directly from Madagascar - or some other vanilla bean you can scrape up)
A couple whole cloves
A couple whole peppercorns
A bay leaf
About 20 cherries
A squirt of honey
Salt and pepper

Gorgonzola butter:

Mash together about 2 tablespoons of gorgonzola with a tablespoon of butter. Set aside.
Simmer until the liquid is reduced to a light syrupy consistency. Grill steaks, top with blue cheese butter, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Strain sauce through a seive. Put gorgonzola butter on the steak and drizzle over the steaks.

I also sauteed spinach and garlic in some EVOO, fried up some potato slices and made a radish, onion, cucumber salad (not shown).

Feijoada

MP’s Version of Feijoada

It’s long and involved, so bear with me. This will feed about six people, so double or triple as needed.

NOTE: This meal is a labor of love. Don’t even think about making this for people who will not appreciate what you put into it.

MP’s Feijoada has six required parts:

Meat

Beans

Rice

Greens

Farofa

Oranges

And if it is served any time after 1:00 p.m., it must be accompanied by caipirinha.

Preparing Feijoada goes much easier if the cook begins with a caipirinha, so let’s start with that recipe.

Caipirinha

• ·         Cut half a lime into four or six pieces and put them in a short glass
• ·         Add two teaspoons of sugar
• ·         Mash with a wooden spoon or muddler
• ·         Fill glass with ice
• ·         Add Cachaça (I buy PITU but I think 51 is another good brand)

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOOEar1woto&feature=related

Meat

Traditional Brazilian Feijoada calls for all sorts of crazy pig parts like tongue, ears, and other odd things that we don’t normally eat. There are many versions of Feijoada and it is a dish that most cooks adapt to their own style. Here is mine:

·         Four beef short ribs

·         One meat dept. sized pork shank

·         One meat dept. sized ham hock

·         One package smoked sausage

·         I have also used chorizo, pork shoulder, thick cut bacon … any meat is fine, but it should include several types and one of them should be some sort of salted pork.

Heat a Dutch oven or other heavy pot with vegetable oil.

Coat ribs with flour, salt & pepper.

Ribs should sizzle when you put them in the pan – don’t put too many in at a time or they will steam instead of getting brown and crispy.

Brown all sides then remove to a large plate.

Without the flour coating, brown the remaining meats one at a time and move them to the holding plate. The smoked sausage should be sliced before browning.

Remove excess oil from the pot – leave only a couple tablespoons in there.

Add ½ of a medium onion - chopped, 2-3 cloves diced garlic, and 2 bay leaves. Sauté until onions are soft.

Deglaze pan with a little of a 26 oz. container of Swanson beef stock.

Put all meats back in and add remaining beef stock.

Add enough water to cover meat. Add salt & pepper.

Cover pot and simmer on low for at least 3 hours.

Regularly skim ‘scum’ that rises to the top. Add water as needed to keep the beef submerged.

As meat starts to fall off the bone, remove bones from pot. Cut large pieces of meat into smaller pieces and remove excess fat.

Beans

If you want to go to the effort, you can soak and simmer dried beans. I just open two large cans of black beans – drain and rinse them. When meat has simmered for several hours and meat is cut off the bone, add beans.

Also add one small can of diced tomatoes. I like Giant brand organic. If you don’t use those, try to get tomatoes that don’t have a ton of crazy additives.

I add the beans and tomatoes to the meat. Some people like to serve the meat and beans in separate bowls. If you do this, add the tomatoes to the meat and add some garlic and onion to the beans.

Rice

·         Melt two tablespoons butter in a saucepan.

·         Add about ¼ of a medium onion - diced. Sauté until tender and add 1 cup of rice. Stir to coat.

·         Add 2 cups of water, a pinch of salt, and return to a boil.

·         Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let it go for 17 minutes.

·         Remove from heat. Do NOT open lid until time to serve.

Greens

·         Collard greens are traditional but I used kale because I like it better.

·         Heat a large frying pan to medium or medium high and melt three tablespoons butter – I also add a little olive oil.

·         Chop two cloves garlic and add to hot oil.

·         Add a 16 oz package of Glory Foods pre-cut and washed kale (or equivalent).

·         Salt & pepper to taste.

·         Toss until it starts to wilt.

·         Add a ¼ cup of water (or more if needed) to help steam and wilt kale.

·         DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Farofa

·         Brown about six slices of thick cut bacon until very crispy. Set aside.

·         In a medium sized frying pan, melt three tablespoons butter.

·         Add ¼ of a small onion – diced. Sauté until translucent.

·         Crumble bacon and add to butter and onion.

·         Stir in about 1 ½ cups of manioc flour (can be found in Brazilian food stores or online).

·         Coat manioc with butter and let it brown. Stir occasionally.

·         Take off heat and set aside.

Oranges

Whew. This is the easy part.

Slice oranges. That’s all. I sliced two for the four of us and there was some left over.

It’s a meal that takes a lot of love and stamina to produce. I think it’s worth it.