Delicious Oven Filelt Mignon

Fillet Mignon with Red Wine Balsamic, and Bleu Cheese Butter (without a grill)

Last week I wanted to make something special for the fourth of July, a day of celebration that I usually find myself enjoying beverages, and delicious grilled food. However, this year was a challenge. I did not have a grill, and am 1,500 miles away from those whom I would normally celebrate with. So the challenge was to make a delicious meal with no grill that could be made to serve one. Inspiration set in for Fillet Mignon, and I just had to learn how to cook this wonderful meal without a grill. I spent time searching around online, and eventually found several helpful websites. I then combined their information, created my own recipe,  and was happy with the result! Below I have listed out the recipe I created, and steps so that you can make this mouthwatering dish yourself, so that you can enjoy it with a savory wine (or two).

Ingredients:

·         Fillets (about  1-2 inches thick)

·         EVOO Olive Oil

·         Balsamic Vinaigrette

·         Red Wine (I used the one that I was going to be drinking)

·         Bleu Cheese

·         Butter

·         Ground Sea Salt

·         Ground Black Pepper

Recipe:

1.       (1.5 hours before) Remove butter from fridge, place in small bowl, and let warm to room temperature. Once at room temperature add Bleu Cheese to the butter, mix thoroughly, place back in fridge.

2.       (20 min before) Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove Fillets from fridge and let them warm up to room temperature, once at room temperature place EVOO all over each Fillet, and then grind up sea salt and black pepper onto each side.

3.       Place a skillet on the stove, and heat up to a Medium-High heat. Once heated place Fillet on the skillet, let it cook for 3 minutes. FLIP ONCE and let it cook the other side for 3 minutes, this is to char the outside of the fillet so that you will have a greater flavor.

4.       After cooking on each side, remove the fillet from the pan, and place it in the pre-heated oven for 6 minutes for your fillet to be a perfect medium rare. Return the skillet to a low temperature.

5.       Once you place the fillet in the oven pour the balsamic vinaigrette and some red wine into the low temperature skillet to make your sauce, use your own preference in amounts (you cannot go wrong). Make sure to stir them so that your balsamic vinaigrette doesn’t separate out of solution.

6.       Once your fillet has cooked, remove it from the oven, place on a plate, pour the sauce over top of the fillet (slowly, to allow the juices to soak in), and remove your pre-made bleu cheese butter place a dollop atop your fillet. Once complete, cover your plate/fillet with aluminum foil for 5 minutes. This will allow the juices to soak into your fillet, the bleu cheese butter to melt and cascade flavor atop your perfectly cooked meat.

7.       Uncover, and place your fillet on the plate it will be served on. It is recommended that you already have your sides on the plate so that your fillet will be served warm.

8.       Pour yourself a nice glass of red wine (I recommend a well-aged Napa Cabernet Sauvignon), and enjoy.

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I did. Please let me know your thoughts. Cheers!

-Bruce