Filet Mignon

I usually make a prime rib for Christmas Dinner but because it was just the four of us, I opted for a filet mignon.  Again, I wanted it simple, so no Wellington, it was to cold to grill, so I asked my butcher, Bob Mondi, from Price Chopper Markets to cut me a filet and tie it together like a roast.  It was the most delicious piece of meat I have ever eaten.  I served it with Béarnaise sauce.  Bob was my butcher for years and them decided to slow down and work for Price Chopper.  No one knows meat like he does, he could rival the Lobels!  I am trying to convince him to let me take pictures of him for the blog on carving techniques.

Recipe:

Filet Mignon Roast

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Garlic salt to taste

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole

Make slits into the filet and cut the cloves of garlic into 2-3 pieces.  Place the pieces of garlic all over the filet, top and bottom.  Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper and a little garlic salt. Spray a roasting pan with a rack with PAM. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. 

Place the roast on the pan and then into the oven.  Roast for exactly 30 minutes and then cover loosely with foil.  Lower the heat to 400 degrees F and roast for another 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and wrap the foil a little tighter.  Leave covered for about another 30-45 minutes.  Your meat will be rare to medium rare, and so tender and delicious.  If you prefer it more cooked, adjust your cooking time and additional 15 minutes for medium, and additional 25 minutes for well done.  I must say I used to eat my meat like shoe leather, but I am surrounded by a houseful of men that like their meat mooing.  This meat was perfect, it had rare slices for those that like it really rare, and yet on the ends, there were pieces that were perfect for me, medium and delicious.

Ingredients: 1 (5 pound) filet mignon tied into a roast

Here is what you will need:

Here is how I prepared it:

Peel and set your cloves of garlic aside

 Cut them into 2-3 pieces per clove.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F.

Spray a roasting pan with a rack with PAM

With the tip of a sharp knife make small holes in the meat by

 rotating the tip of the knife just a tiny bit

It should make  a nice pocket for the garlic

Insert a piece of garlic into each slit you made.  

This particular piece of meat was so tender, the garlic just slipped in.

Continue making the pockets on all sides of the meat

until you use up all the garlic

Sprinkle the meat with a little garlic salt on both sides

Sprinkle with salt

and 

pepper

The meat is now ready for the oven

Place the roast on the pan and put into the 500 degree oven.

  This will sear the meat and keep it moist and juicy.

Roast for exactly 30 minutes and then lower the heat to 400 degrees F.  

Loosely cover the meat with foil.  

(This is a good time to put your potatoes in the oven if you are roasting them)

Bake an additional 20-25 minutes and then remove from the oven and tighten the foil around the meat.  While the potatoes finish cooking, let the meat sit wrapped in the foil. The potatoes will take about another 30 minutes and the meat will be perfectly done!

You can at this point, separate the two halves of the filet and cut them into steaks as thick as you like, or slice it about 1-inch to 1 1/2-inches like a roast they way I did.  No matter how you slice it, it will be outstanding!