Beef Tenderloin With Tarragon Au Poivre

This dinner is one of my favorite dinner party meals to make and is a crowd pleaser every time! I change the sides served with the beef tenderloin sometimes, serving different kinds of potatoes depending on the mood. In this version I served the beef with roasted potatoes which are so delicious, russets or yukon golds wonderfully. I’ve also been known to serve this with hasselback potatoes, dauphinoise, mashed or baked.

The hardest part of the dinner is the sauce, and its really not that difficult, you just need to make sure limbs are out of the way for firing the brandy in the dish, it’s a crazy impressive show for guests, but rather dangerous, if you’re not up for the brandy lighting, just use a spot of red wine in the sauce instead, you don’t need to ignite that and the flavor is also really good. You can make a traditional green peppercorn sauce, but I absolutely love tarragon so I infuse the sauce with tarragon for a little extra pizazz!

Beef tenderloin
Salt and pepper
Tarragon – 1 bunch
Jarred green peppercorns
4oz brandy/cognac or red wine
Pint of fresh cream
shake of soy sauce
1/2 tsp beef bouillon (if the sauce needs a little more depth)

First prepare the beef tenderloin by tying it. Its really important you do this so you have an evenly cooked piece meat. There are a ton of videos online showing you how to do this, there’s a good one here from Martha. When you have tied the beef give it a healthy coating of salt and black pepper, lots and lots of pepper because when you sear it some will stay in the skillet for the peppercorn sauce. Drizzle some olive oil in a large cast iron skillet and sear the beef on all sides. Keep all the remnants in the cast iron skillets, you’ll use this for the sauce. Set your tenderloin on a roasting pan then weave some tarragon spears through the string and on the bottom of your roast to infuse the flavor as it cooks. There are many different theories on how long to cook the tenderloin and at what temperature, I personally cook it at 400 degrees for about 60 minutes for a 2-3lb piece of tenderloin for a medium roast. I let the meat sit for at least 20-30 minutes before I slice it too.

While your tenderloin is cooking, you can get the sauce going, and your veggies too depending on what you’re serving it with. If you’re going with roasted potatoes I would put them in about 45 mins into the cooking of the meat, and then they would be ready once the meat has had time to rest!

For the sauce, use the same skillet as the beef was seared intern the heat up to high, you’ll want to make sure your doors are open and your fan is on before you add the brandy or else your smoke alarms will be tested! Pour the brandy into the skillet and deglaze the plan, the brandy may ignite, or you may want to ignite it, to burn away the alcohol – please be careful! If you don’t have brandy, use red wine and make sure it reduces well on a high heat to burn away the alcohol.

Add about a tablespoon of green peppercorns and then add the cream to the pan, bringing everything to a boil. Add a shake of soy sauce and stir into the sauce with plenty of turns of fresh black pepper.The sauce will reduce as it cooks down, taste to make sure it has enough depth of flavor, if not add a tiny amount of beef bouillon, careful not to add too much or else your sauce will be super salty. Once the sauce is made, let it sit on the stove with a stem or two of fresh tarragon, cover and heat once you are ready to serve with the tenderloin. Here’s a good cheat for you in case you find your sauce too salty… add some milk or half and half to stretch the sauce further, if its not thick enough after reducing, add a little slurry (corn starch and water).. its a total cheat, but who’s watching 🙂

Once the tenderloin has rested, slice into pieces and arrange on a plate, pour over the sauce and away you go!

I normally serve a simple butter lettuce salad with a home made French dressing first.. either radishes and chives or some fresh walnuts

The sauce in the middle is without the tarragon, the sauce on the right is with the tarragon, you can see it turns more of a green color with the tarragon infused within the sauce.