This recipe is worth celebrating. Porcini and Rosemary Crusted Beef Tenderloin has been selected as a winner in this week’s Food52 contest for Your Best Holiday Roast. And that’s not the only reason it’s worthy of a party. Dried porcini mushrooms blitzed with fresh rosemary sprigs and black peppercorns create an umami-rich rub for the beef, forming a crust that melts into the meat while roasting. It’s stand alone delicious, yet when napped with a luxurious port wine reduction infused with more porcini and rosemary, this dish becomes an elegant dinner worthy of any holiday celebration. So go on, name a holiday – or just call it the weekend. This is a treat that your family and friends will be sure to enjoy. And that’s worth celebrating, too.
Porcini and Rosemary Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Porcini Port Sauce
Salting the meat in advance ensures juicy results and a crispy crust. A combination of port and red wine is used in this recipe. Red wine may be substituted with additional port. Serves 6 to 8.
For the beef tenderloin:
1 center cut beef tenderloin, about 3 pounds
Salt
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Olive oil
For the Porcini Port Wine Sauce:
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted in 3/4 cup hot water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 cup port wine
1 cup heavy-bodied red wine
2 rosemary sprigs
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1. Season the tenderloin all over with salt. Refrigerate 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Thirty minutes before roasting remove beef from the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the mushrooms, rosemary, and peppercorns in a spice grinder. Grind to a coarse powder. Rub the beef with olive oil, then coat all over with the rosemary porcini rub.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the beef and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes, turning as necessary. Transfer the beef to a roasting pan, and set the skillet aside without rinsing for the sauce.
4. Roast beef in the oven until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads 125*F, about 30 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
5. While the beef is roasting, prepare the sauce. Strain the porcini water through an un-bleached paper towel into a small bowl. Reserve the strained liquid. Coarsely chop the porcini.
6. Add 1 tablespoon butter, the shallots, and porcini to the reserved skillet. Sauté over medium heat until the shallots are translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the port, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Add the red wine, mushroom stock, and rosemary. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered until the sauce is reduced by about half to approximately 1 1/2 cups. Add the salt and taste for seasoning. Strain through a fine-meshed seive into a small saucepan, pressing firmly on the solids; discard solids. Heat the sauce over medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Keep warm until serving.
7. To serve, carve the meat in slices. Serve on warm plates with the porcini port sauce.
Dried porcinis are one of my favorite ingredients. This looks fabulous. Congrats!
Elegant & mouth-watering. Filing this one for the future. Good luck!
Oh that looks divine and I bet it smells great too. Lovely shot.. c
This looks soooo yummy! I love love love porcini mushrooms and I will definitely be adding this to my “must make” list! Congrats on the nomination! Hope you win!
This looks delicious! Porcini mushrooms and port wine together makes it even better. Thank you!
Divine! The perfect dish to serve on a special dinner!
Thank you!
Hi Lynda, I’ve been making a recipe very similar for years from epicurious http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Beef-Tenderloin-with-Port-Sauce-240690?mbid=ipapp. The first time I was scared stiff, salting the beef for 24 hours? Have they gone mad? I don’t know where you are but a tenderloin like the one in your photo would cost about $60 here in Toronto, you don’t want to screw it up! But, I must say, hands down it’s the best beef recipe I have. LOVE the addition of porcini mushrooms in your recipe. Years ago I bought powdered dried porcini but sadly it didn’t last long (brutally expensive too!) I’ll keep my eyes open for it again.
Made this for a family birthday lunch today exactly as is — no tweaking needed! I moved how the favor of the rub melts into the meat. This is my new favorite filet recipe. Congratulations ….!!!!!
“moved” was supposed to be “loved”. I hate autocorrect.
This looks amazing! I’m glad it uses dried porcini, they don’t grow here in Australia and when we do come by imported ones they are $150 a kilo. As are the dried ones actually, but dried ones are much lighter. Looks divine!
You , of course, have my vote. As you know, I’ve a delicious bag of dried porcini from Italy that are screaming to be used in this dish. Patience my little lovelies, Christmas is right around the corner.
YAY..all the best..rosemary crust is something so unique & sounds exotic! this dish looks divine!
You have my vote! I am hosting Christmas this year and I think my menu planning just got a bit easier…
Getting ideas for Thanksgiving. Move over, Turkey! I have no need for you this year 🙂
Got some few good ideas .. will try out tonight
🙂
Just made it today for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I served it with roasted potatoes in duck fat and your kale and carrot salad. Delicious! Thank you for the recipes, Lynda. Happy Thanksgiving