Filet Mignon with Red Wine Reduction and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes for a Copycat #SundaySupper

Filet Mignon with Red Wine Reduction and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes for a Copycat #SundaySupper

It's interesting how history repeats itself. I say that because there are several themes I have addressed in previous posts that are applicable to this dish I am publishing today.

Let me explain.

Earlier this spring, my mother called and insisted upon seeing her granddaughter over the summer. Either she and my father were going to travel up to Washington from California or my daughter would have to fly down there. So a couple of weeks ago, I flew my daughter to California and spent a few days catching up with friends and family and returned home on Independence Day, leaving my daughter behind. It was nice to see everyone and I made sure I made the most of my foodie opportunity but ultimately, I realized that where I grew up isn't home anymore and am happier at my current residence. I was also fortunate to attend this year's Food and Wine Conference and flew back from Orlando last Monday evening. Mrs. Stuntman flew out to California earlier that day to visit and also pick up our daughter to fly home, but they don't return until this evening so I have been by myself all week. Long time readers might remember the last time both my daughter and wife were away when I prepared this steak dish two years ago. The scenario is the same here as it was then: I was only cooking for myself so I figured I could splurge a little without breaking the bank, which is one of the reasons why I chose a filet.

Inspiration Behind the Dish

I couldn't let this week's #SundaySupper theme of Copycat Recipes go by without participating. Within the first six months I had started this site, I organized a group post called Food Unchained where I replicated a baby back ribs recipe inspired by a national restaurant chain. The idea of 'Food Unchained' was to prepare an improved version of a favorite chain restaurant dish with the idea that if the restaurant would replace the blogger's version of their dish it would help the chain's sales. I used the same approach here, however this time, I used a dish off of a different restaurant menu. This time, I was inspired by the Dallas Filet off of the Texas Roadhouse menu. (It's the other reason why I chose a filet.)

Dish Details

Their menu specifies that the filet includes two side dishes but let's assume the first side is a salad which will act as an appetizer course. For the second side, I was inspired by a baked potato. After all, my version is fundamentally prepared in the same way, but seasoned in a different manner. I will admit that this dish looks a lot like one I prepared about a year ago for the Conference, however I wanted to try something I saw during a cooking demonstration by Chef Michael Ollier of Certified Angus Beef® over this past weekend. Chef Ollier demonstrated a simple pan sauce for beef but he finished it off with tomato paste instead of butter. Would that one ingredient substitution make a huge difference in the sauce?

I adapted this dish from a few different sources. I used the cooking method (i.e. oven temperature and roasting time) from a Tyler Florence dish that can be found on foodnetwork.com. I recommend taking one extra step with the filet that I failed to do here that I will describe below. For the pan sauce, I used the basic sauce making technique found on page 75 of Think Like A Chef by Tom Colicchio with Catherine Young, Lori Silverbush and Sean Fri which was reinforced by a dish on Certified Angus Beef®'s blog, Go Rare. A YouTube video demonstrating the recipe can be found here.

Ingredients

1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus more, if needed
1 8-ounce filet mignon, approximately 1-inch thick
1 shallot, chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup beef or veal stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Whole rosemary sprigs, for garnish

Method

1. Roast the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 500° Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and place on a middle rack while the oven is preheating. In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic, rosemary and olive oil. Once the oven has reached it's temperature, place the potatoes onto the warmed sheet pan, close the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 425° Fahrenheit. Roast in the oven until the potatoes have a crisp exterior but a soft interior, approximately 20 minutes.

2. While the potatoes roast, sear the steak. Heat the vegetable oil in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet over medium high heat, then season the filet with salt and pepper. Put the filet into the skillet to sear, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm to allow for carryover cooking.

3. Prepare the pan sauce. Reduce the heat of the skillet to medium, then add more vegetable oil if necessary, up to an additional 1 tablespoon. Add the shallots to sweat, approximately 3 minutes. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon garlic to the shallots and cook until fragrant, an additional minute. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping up the fond, then simmer until it's reduced by half. Add in the beef stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce the sauce until it has a syrup-like consistency, then stir in the tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper, if necessary. To plate, place the potatoes on one side of the plate, then the filet on another. Spoon some sauce over the filet, then garnish with a rosemary sprig or two.

Final Thoughts

From an execution standpoint, I was a bit off my game the evening I prepared this dish, in fact I made a couple of rookie mistakes. The filet was a little undercooked for my taste, so if I were to prepare this dish again, I would place the pan in the oven on a different rack than the potatoes immediately after turning the filet until the desired doneness is reached. Keep in mind that the steak still should be slightly under the desired doneness (i.e. cook to rare in order to achieve medium rare) to allow for carryover cooking. (The temperature of the meat will rise about 5° Fahrenheit as it rests).

In addition, I also slightly burned the shallots because the pan was a little too hot when I added them and I failed to reduce the oven temperature once I placed the potatoes on the hot sheet pan, so I had to scramble and hide the burned herbs and garnish the potatoes with thyme leaves for presentation. Speaking of the potatoes, I'd increase the amount of the potatoes, garlic and rosemary if more than 1 filet is to be prepared. Despite my issues, it was still the best thing I ate since I returned from the Food and Wine Conference.

If you look around the Texas Roadhouse website, they do demonstrate in a video the process of preparing their ribeye steaks, they pan sear before finishing them off on the grill but I can't imagine they would apply the same process to their filet because it would be overcooked. Furthermore, many steakhouses utilize an infrared broiler, so I'm unsure what this company is trying to achieve by this process.

I'd like to thank Coleen of The Redhead Baker for hosting this week's #SundaySupper event. Also, I plan on posting my review of the 2015 Food and Wine Conference later this week but until then, be sure to visit these other Copycat Recipes:

Drinks

• Copy Cat Orange Julius Recipe (sugar free) by Simply Healthy Family
• Hard Rock Cafe's Twist & Shout Shake by The Crumby Cupcake

Appetizers

• Bang Bang Cauliflower Bites by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Copy Cat: Outback Bloomin' Sauce with Onion Petals by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Nopal Dip by Cookin' Mimi

Condiments

• Copycat Hershey's Syrup: Homemade Chocolate Syrup by Brunch with Joy
• Copycat Sriracha Sauce by Nosh My Way
• The Village Cafe's Avocado Dressing by Jane's Adventures in Dinner

Main Courses

• Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad Copycat by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Applebee's Shrimp and Cavatappi by Grumpy's Honeybunch
• B.good's West Side burger with chipotle salsa and avocado by Caroline's Cooking
• Brie and Asparagus Pasta by Life Tastes Good
• Cheesecake Factory Cashew Chicken by Feeding Big
• Chicken Kitchen Chop Chop and Curry Mustard Sauce by Love and Confections
• Chicken Tikka Poutine by Sustainable Dad
• Chili's Margarita Grilled Chicken by Lifestyle Food Artistry
• Filet Mignon with Red Wine Reduction and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes by Crazy Foodie Stunts
• IHOP's Ham, Egg & Cheese Melt by Food Done Light

Side Dishes

• Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Henri's Tas-Tee Dressing Clone and Cole Slaw by Palatable Pastime
• Panera Copycat Mac and Cheese by From Gate to Plate

Desserts

• Copycat Cosmic Brownies by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Cracker Barrel's Double Fudge Coca-Cola Cake by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Friendly's Monster Mash Sundae by The Redhead Baker
• Sheetz "Gobbz" Cookies by The Freshman Cook
• Tiramisu by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Yeasted Sour Cherry Coffee Cake by Pies and Plots

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Red Wine Reduction and Roasted Winter Vegetables

Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Red Wine Reduction and Roasted Winter Vegetables

I'm going to level with you.

My last couple of months, for the most part, hasn't been my finest work here. My desire to prepare food has been present but writing about said dishes has become a grind for me. It's interesting because I have noticed my food inspiration has evolved over time. When I started this website, my focus was food preparation that is unusual or difficult for a home cook with no professional training, however I'm finding that my most inspired work has been when I can compose a dish. I may still rely upon techniques drawn from other sources but putting these elements together in a harmonious fashion with some assistance from The Flavor Bible is what I've enjoyed the most. Some examples might include my ravioli dish from January 2013, my scallops dish from February 2014 and my salmon guest post for my friend, Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic in March of 2014. I had even considered retiring this website and starting a new one where the title would be the name of a fictitious restaurant and posts would be menu items, taking inspiration from ingredients that come in and out of season in addition to current food trends.

There's no reason I can't do that here. This particular dish pairs an ingredient I had not previously prepared with a dish composition challenge (i.e. pairing foods together). The fact of the matter is I had been planning this dish for some time now. Last summer, I remember my friend, Lori from Foxes Loves Lemons was frustrated by the filling of a cherry pie she replicated from a magazine cover so I suggested she repurpose it and pair it with a duck breast because I remember noting it in The Flavor Bible. A couple of months later, I was in the local Whole Foods Market and remembered my suggestion, so I thought I'd price out duck breast while I was there. As with many items there, the price was too steep for me but the meat manager there suggested a whole frozen duck instead which was about half as much. He even offered to defrost it and butcher the bird if I called a day ahead. Last week, I finally took him up on his offer.

The Challenge

Successfully execute an ingredient I had not previously prepared

The Source

To prepare the duck, I adapted a dish from pages 152 to 153 of Cook Like A Rock Star by Anne Burrell with Suzanne Lenzer and paired it with an adaptation of Martha Stewart's port wine reduction. To complement the dish, I adapted Ina Garten's roasted vegetables found on foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients

1 parsnip, trimmed of both ends, peeled and cut into a 1-inch dice
1 turnip, trimmed of both ends, peeled and cut into a 1-inch dice
6 ounces fingerling potatoes, cut into 1-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped, plus 2 whole sprigs, divided
3 tablespoons rendered duck fat
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pekin duck breasts
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallots
3/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Arugula leaves (for garnish)

Method

1. Roast the vegetables. Preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, toss the parsnip, turnip and potatoes with the duck fat and chopped thyme and season with salt and pepper. Empty the vegetables in a single layer onto a aluminum foil-lined sheet pan and place in the oven until the vegetables are fork tender, approximately 45 minutes.

2. Prepare the duck. While your vegetables roast, score the duck by cutting through the skin in an cross-hatch pattern about 3/4-inch wide deep enough to pierce through the layer of fat but not through the meat, then season both sides with salt and pepper. Coat a large pan with a thin stream of olive oil and add the duck breasts with the skin side down. Heat the pan to low in order to render the duck fat slowly until you can see the meat through the score marks, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. As the duck fat renders, scoop it out of the pan and save it for other uses. Once all the fat has rendered, raise the heat to medium and brown both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side, then remove the breasts to a plate to allow for carryover cooking, approximately 5 minutes, then slice the breasts on a bias.

3. Prepare the reduction. Remove any duck fat from the pan in excess of 1 tablespoon and add the shallots to the pan to sweat, approximately 2 minutes. Deglaze with the wine and stock, scraping any fond stuck from the bottom of the pan, then raise the heat to medium-high and reduce the sauce to 1/3 cup. Stir in the butter and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. To plate, spoon some sauce on a warmed plate, then fan 3 to 4 slices of duck over the sauce. Spoon some vegetables to the side and garnish with arugula.

Successful?

The idea from this dish came from a flavor affinity of duck, parsnips and turnips in The Flavor Bible, which also notes arugula. I highly recommend getting a copy if you don't have one. In fact, Christina of Mama's High Strung is giving a copy away on her website right now in a Valentine's Cookbook Affair Giveaway.

Other giveaways include:

A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei in the Kitchen giving away Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart
Confessions of a Culinary Diva giving away My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories by David Lebovitz and Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
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girlichef giving away Cooking with Frank's® RedHot® Cayenne Pepper Sauce: Delicious Recipes That Bring the Heat by Rachel Rappaport
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annaDishes giving away Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel
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That Skinny Chick Can Bake giving away The Silver Palate Cookbook and The New Basics Cookbook, both by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso

Regarding the dish itself, Chef Burrell instructs her readers to finish the duck in the oven at 350° Fahrenheit for 5 to 6 minutes but I found the duck to be cooked past medium rare which is ideal. It was still a well balanced dish. I might even put the dish on that fictitious restaurant I referred to above. In addition, I do have plans for the other duck parts, however I'll save them for future posts.