Filet Mignon with Bearnaise

Doug and I decided to do a little romantic dinner at home right around Christmas. Somehow in the madness of the holidays we found time for a little filet :-)

We hadn't taken our mini grill off of the deck before the snow storm, so we were left with cooking our steak with the stove. It is OK, I was up for the challenge. I chose to make a bearnaise sauce to accompany it, as well as roasted potatoes. I also made a side salad, though only one of ate our salad, can you guess which one of us was too interested in his meat and potatoes to eat greens? Hmm?

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking sheet on the center rack. Wait until the oven is completely heated before you turn on the burner as your steak won't be on the stovetop long. Heat a large skillet that has a lid on a burner over high heat. While that is heating, rub each side of each steak with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Place steaks in the hot pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Transfer steaks to the baking sheet in oven (using tongs) and cook for 6-8 minutes. This is for medium rare, which I think is how steak should be cooked! However, if you don't like it cooked medium rare, and would prefer to use a meat thermometer rather than time, here is the temperature chart:

Rare - 120-125
Medium Rare - 130-135
Medium - 140-145
Medium Well - 150-155
Well - 160+ (but shame on you for overcooking good meat)

Here is the recipe for the bearnaise sauce:

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon leaf
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon water
1 stick butter
salt to taste
few drops lemon juice

Combine first five ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Let simmer for around 5 minutes. Add egg yolks and water to pan, stirring while adding so eggs don't scramble (also make sure pan isn't too hot for same purpose). Once entirely added, whisk thoroughly. Reduce heat to low, still stirring constantly. Add butter gradually and salt and lemon juice at end. Serve warm over the steak.

This was a fantastic meal, and great with the crisp roasted potatoes which will be a separate post. And I thought we cooked it perfectly!