Fennel & Rosemary Encrusted Beef Tenderloin

Recipe Review: comfort food all dressed up.

I had a really crappy day at work. I was tired, and crabby, and I had just about had it with people asking me how long the 2 hour harbor cruise lasts. I needed a cooking project to throw myself into. Something adventurous that would help me unwind and make me forget about work. I was looking something comforting, and I came across Beef Wellington. Which looked awesome- but oh crap that was a bit over my head and involved a full day (or even days) of prep. I liked the idea of beef though, so I came up with the idea of doing spinach instead of mushrooms, and stuffing the beef- then covering it in puff pastry. I had my mission and set out to the store- tenderloin was on sale- score!

Fennel & Rosemary Encrusted Beef Tenderloin

adapted from Fine Cooking & Cooking Light

yield: 4-5 servings

1 2lb beef tenderloin, trimmed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 package frozen spinach

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

freshly ground salt & pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

3 sheets of puff pastry

Preheat oven to 350.

Defrost spinach and drain well. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add shallots and sauté 4 minutes.  Add spinach and garlic to shallots and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon each fresh ground salt & pepper. Place spinach mixture into a colander and press with the back of a spoon to drain any excess liquid. 

Use a knife to poke a hole through the middle of the tenderloin, and the handle of a wooden spoon to increase the diameter to approximately 2 inches. Stuff with the spinach mixture.

In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, rosemary, fennel, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir to make a paste. Rub the paste all over the outside of the tenderloin. 

Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a large pan. Gently sear tenderloin for 1 one minute on each side.

Lay out 3 pieces of puff pastry, brushing each lightly with butter before layering on next piece. Gently wrap the paper around the beef, sealing edges with butter. Bake for 35- 40 minutes, until internal meat temperature reaches 120°F for rare, 125° to 130°F for medium rare, or 135°F for medium. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Nutrition Information: Calories 577, Fat 31.3g, Sat. Fat 12.6g Cholesterol 188mg, Sodium 406mg, Carbohydrates 16.4g, Fiber 2.2g, Protein 56.3g

printable recipe

I could tell right away from how this smelled that it was going to taste good- but it was far better than just good. It was rich beef with a savory crust and tender spinach. Things just rolled together to make an excellent meal. I love when trying something new and experimenting yields great results. The combination of the fennel and rosemary was a perfect mix of flavors, and very fragrant while cooking. The original recipe said to tie the tenderloin with butchers twine, but since I wrapped the roast with the puff pastry sheets I skipped that step. Honestly most of the pastry fell off while carving the meat so I'm not sure how necessary this step was. I served this with baby carrots and a mixed mash from three potatoes. I used one russet potato, one sweet potato, and one yam. It was a nice change up from regular mashed potatoes and a little sweet but not too much. This was a little labor intensive- but totally worth it. I would absolutely make it again for a special dinner. Making the rub for the outside of the meat was very easy however. If you skip the stuffing and wrapping in puff pastry this could be a quick weeknight meal.

***Side Note: Blogging has won me something!! I entered a cookbook giveaway from Galexi Cupcakes... and I won!! I can't wait to get my new dessert cookbook in the mail :-)

Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Cakes

This is a very exciting blog post for me. To start off its my 50th blog post! Since I started blogging in the fall I have really come to love it and look forward to every post that I write. Blogging has lead me to try making new things that I never would have tried, and I now have new hobbies to pursue, (cake/cupcakes decorating, and food photography) that are fueled by the blog!

Second- Kevin and I invented the most delicious food! Usually I cook from a recipe, and I was making a sweet potato and spinach hash that I had seen in Real Simple magazine, Kevin was watching the process (which involves grating the sweet potatoes) and suggested that we make them into cakes and fry them like latkes. Since this was a huge departure from the recipe I let Kevin take the lead, and we mixed in an egg and some bread crumbs to the spinach mix, fried them up, and oh. my. goodness. They were amazing! We were both incredibly surprised by how great these tasted. No they aren't the prettiest, and we probably should have baked them instead of fried but wow. Just wow.

Spinach & Pesto Chicken Rollatini

Recipe Review: Chicken, Pesto and Spinach- whats not to like? Looks fancy but its not- Can be prepped early and thrown in the oven later, 

I get so tired of just marinating and grilling chicken. It's quick and easy to make, but I get burnt out on chicken really fast that way. So I was looking for a new way to make chicken to jazz things up. Last fall I made asparagus stuffed chicken and really enjoyed the way the pesto tasted on the baked chicken. Some googling (and perhaps some olive garden ads) led me to the idea of doing a chicken "rollatini". Basically its a way to make stuffed chicken where you pound the chicken really thin and then roll it up with the stuffing inside. If done right when sliced you will have pretty little chicken pinwheels. I thought this would be good to make ahead and just pop in the oven, and it was!

Pesto Baked Chicken with Asparagus

I had half a jar of pesto sauce leftover from making some pasta salad a while back and was trying to figure out a way to use it other than just dumping it on pasta. (I had previously used the pesto to make a really yummy pesto and spinach pasta salad that I found on the food network website. It was a total hit at a bbq and I had to throw together a quick second batch when people gobbled up the first one.) Some quick googling led me to the idea of brushing the pesto onto chicken. Sounded simple and yummy enough! I decided to fancy it up but stuffing the chicken with asparagus and mozzarella, and made some sauteed spinach on the side.