The Stuffed Mushrooms:
For the stuffed mushroomse recipe, please refer to our previous post. Our notes for this recipe are here:
The stuffing needed a bit of salt to bring out the flavor. We used larger button mushrooms (they were portabello "stuffing" mushrooms) this time, which was definitely an improvement. On this round, we put a small amount of butter inside the caps, which solved the dryness issue we encountered on our first attempt. One reaction involved the slight hardness of the texture of the stuffing, which I am fairly certain was a result of the rice. We used long grain wild, which tends to maintain its solid texture. We were using thawed leftover stuffing, which may have contributed to this. In general, wild rice has a more solid texture, which I love, but isn't for everyone.
The Filet:
Filet is actually fairly easy, if you keep an eye on it. First of all, take the meat out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you cook it. It should be roughly room temperature (ask Alton Brown). We don't have a grill, so we did the filet in a high-heat cast-iron skillet. Do a light coat of olive oil on each side, with salt and pepper. Sear them in the pan for about five minutes per side ( this will produce a RARE steak of about 1-1.5"). If you need good timing on a more done steak, butterfly the cut or choose something a little thinner.
I sauteed some oyster and shitake mushrooms with red onion in garlic and butter to go on top of the steaks. This should take about 6-10 minutes. You pretty much want everything to finish at the same time, so it all stays hot. I won't hold your hand. Figure the timing out on your own.
On top of all this, I thawed some leftover red-wine-mushroom reduction sauce from an earlier meal (see previous post). It tasted ok, but I would suggest that you make it fresh. The re-used stuff just didn't have the same flavor. It was a bit more tart, and seemed to lose some of its consistency.
Another variaton tonight involved melting some Blue Stilton on top of the steaks. I don't know that it beats a reduction sauce with mushrooms in general, but it was definitely better than the leftover reduction. It really depends on your tastes. Blue Stilton melted on top of the filet has a very strong flavor, and compliments the meat extremely well.
The meat was just a little bit tough, but this was more a result of the cut of meat than any of the cooking methods. After all, the meat only cost us about eight bucks, but would have been a $30 apiece meal otherwise.
Asparagus:
Asparagus is easy. Chop the ends off the asparagus (or break them... hold the asparagus in your hand and bend the end 'til it breaks- it breaks at the tender part), blanch it in chicken broth for about 3 minutes, dump it in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Sautee it in butter and/or olive oil with garlic and parsley about 6-10 minutes. Unfortunately, we had to used some frozen asparagus, which doesn't taste any worse, but tends to be a bit mushier. I always recommend fresh vegetables over frozen. They were still good.
The Wine:
We inspired ourselves during the cooking process with Trader Joes 2006 Vintage Ale (Beer). It was ok, but I think needs to sit a year or two to mature. Right off the bat it just tasted like medium-dark alcohol with a very slight sweetness. 2005 was better.
Pre-dinner drink was Poggiotondo 2004 Chianti Superiore. While very good, it isn't what I would call "eyebrow raising." Very enjoyable.
With dinner we had Amala 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It's very smooth, but doesn't lose any of the strength one expects from a cab, and is actually one of the better ones I've tried.
