Guest Cookin' with Grampy from The Texas Cowboy Kitchen Cookbook: Beef, Potatoes, Onions, YUM

OK so the last week of August we headed off to OBX for a week at the beach at Sunny Side Up on Whalehead Beach --but DAMN EARL rolled in and we were sent packing 3 days early --major bummer!  So back at my house we suddenly had extra meals to make --Dad and I were plotting what to make and I showed him my new cookbook from when we were  in Austin Texas in May for Adrian and Gingers wedding. We found 4 recipes to make in it --which included BEEF --Dad's favorite -- do not be overwhelmed with this meal --it really is simple and a lot  of it can be done  ahead of time --it is a very elegant and fabulous meal.

Beef Tenderloin with Hollandaise Diablo

1/8 cup salt

1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper

2.5lbs beef tenderloin, trimmed

1/8 vegetable oil 

1 cup Hollandaise Diablo (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Dad/ Grampy Bob trimmed all the fat and the center gristle off the tenderloin and then ties it so that it will stay together when cooking.
 

Roll tenderloin in pepper/salt mixture. --to make this easy we ground our salt and pepper onto saran wrap so that we could roll the beef and wrap it with the mixture and clean up was SOOOO EASY!!

In large braising pan, heat the oil, braise the tenderloin for 4-6 minutes on all four sides. Note I used stainless steel pan as it is great to brown meat --do not turn it until the meat releases from pan so that it  will sear well (searing helps keep the juices in to make meat more tender)

Place tenderloin on baking sheet.
 
Finish in oven for 20-25 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees.  Let stand 10-15 minutes.  Slice into four to five piece and serve with Hollandaise Diablo sauce below. (yes OMG look at that beef--only  Dad/Grampy Bob can make it like this!! This beef melts in your mouth !)

Hollandaise Diablo

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cup butter, melted, very warm

juice of a lemon

1 tsp tomato paste

Hot pepper sauce OR Cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

Separate eggs and save whites for another use.

In blender, pulse the egg yolks on low.  Slowly add melted butter, lemon juice, tomato paste, hot pepper sauce, and salt.  (yes one hand on the blender the other on the glass of wine)
 


We then transferred to another pan to  keep it warm  til serving. Please the beautiful consistency of this sauce --we were just adding a little more tabasco  for kick. Also the sauce is redder than the pic in the cookbook as I misread and added 1 T instead of 1 t of tomato paste. (and NO I am not going to show you the Texas Cowboy Cookbook pic of this recipe).

Oh back to the consistency --look how smooth it is NOW as when it went to plate it had overheated and was a little curdled --tasted the same but not as pretty!

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes***
***we had leftover mashed so reheated them and added in goat cheese and carmelized onions***

1lb russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1.5 inch-pieces

3 cloves garlic, peeled

3 TBSP unsalted butter

3 ounces of heavy cream

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup goat cheese

1/2 cup caramelized onion (see recipe below)

Potatoes and garlic in large saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, lower to Medium, cook til soft for approx 20 minutes.  

While potatoes cooking, heat butter and cream over medium heat in a a saucepan.  Reduce by 1/4th. 

In a colander, strain the water from potatoes and garlic.  Mash with butter and cream.  Add salt and pepper. 


Fold in with goat cheese and onions. (go Kate go --she's folding and folding!)

These potatoes were sooo yummy --you could also use cream cheese if you didn't have goat --hmmm am I admitting to another recipe substitution....

Caramelized Onions

1 TBSP vegetable oil

Small red onion, thinly sliced
Small white onion, thinly sliced

3-4 green onions, chopped

1.5 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1/8 cup brown sugar

Note that Dad is once again doing the prep --he LOVES to slice and dice -- pour a glass of wine and just keep stacking items in  front of him!


Heat oil in saute pan. 



Cook all three onions, stirring constantly til soft, for approx 10 minutes. (Hmm did you eye-spy that there is no red onion --oops SUBSTITUTION--discovered I had no red onion!)

Then add balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.  


Lower the heat. Simmer 15-20 until liquid is completely absorbed. 



Here is the final meal plated--it was sooo delicious I can still taste it --Thanks Dad for selecting and helping prep a great meal! Thanks Mom and Dad for bringing us the tenderloin all the way from Boston!