Fine Dining In: Filet Mignon with Portabellas and Marsala-Worcestershire Sauce

How would you like to make a $30 restaurant dinner for around $10 and in less time at home? There's nothing better than eating five-star quality food in your pajamas, with a cup of your own coffee while watching Chopped reruns!

Filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef you can ever get your teeth on. I would feel comfortable giving it to my molar-less toddler because just gumming it is sufficient. If you happen to be blessed with molars, you never even have to worry about this stuff getting stuck between them because it's that tender. Seriously. It's everything it's hyped up to be. It also has a flavour that is distinctly nutty and aromatic. You do not need to marinate it or tenderize it in any way - it sings all on its own.

If it's dinner for two, just double the recipe except the butter/oil. This is a great, simple, easy, yet very impressive dish to make for a special someone. I adapted this particular recipe from here. If you've never tried filet mignon, now is the time to do so!

The Ingredients:
5oz Tenderloin filet
1 Portabella cap
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

For the sauce:

1/2 c Marsala or red wine
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Tbsp Worcestershire
2 tsp yellow mustard
Splash of milk
1/8 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1/2 Tbsp water

The Method (for rare):

Bring your filet to room temperature. Take it out of the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. I let mine sit for an hour. 

Heat olive oil and butter in a small sauté pan to just above medium heat. Liberally salt both sides of the steak - just past your comfort zone of what you deem is appropriate. Pepper both sides with fresh cracked black pepper. Gently pat the seasonings into the steak.

Once the butter stops bubbling, place the filet into the hot pan. Do not touch it and let it cook for five minutes. Flip it and let it cook for another five minutes on the other side. DO NOT PRESS DOWN ON IT OR FLIP IT MORE THAN ONCE WHILE IT IS COOKING. Remove filet from the pan onto a plate and cover - don't cut it yet, just let it rest. (For medium-rare, add another minute of time on each side. If you cook it past medium-rare, may your meat-eating privileges be forever revoked).

Sauté one sliced portabella cap in the drippings and leftover butter/oil for 2 minutes, stirring and flipping the mushrooms constantly. Take mushrooms from pan and place them with the filet.

Now to the sauce!

Add the olive oil to your pan, quickly followed by the wine and Worcestershire. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL ADDING ALCOHOL TO A HOT PAN; REMOVE THE PAN FROM THE STOVE FIRST. DO NOT START A FIRE. Once the bubbling and spattering calms down a bit, add your mustard, milk, and cornstarch mixture and whisk everything together. Reduce for five minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat.

Add the portabellas back into the pan, stir very well with the sauce. Once the mushrooms are completely coated, add them and the sauce to the filet and serve immediately. No steak sauce required!

Once you try this steak, you will never want to go back. After my husband ate this last night, he told me that this is the only cut of beef we should ever buy again. I'm not sure how I feel about that since it's $23 a pound, but I'm definitely tempted to support him in that decision.

Have you ever cooked a filet at home? Share your recipe with me! Until then, happy cooking!

May you and your coffee both be strong,

Meggan

Mugged in the Microwave: Bacon Mango Crumble

 

Happy International Bacon Day!

In honour of such a prestigious holiday, I decided to seek out a dish that included the legendary ingredient, but also coupled both familiar and less-thought-of complementary flavours. I've had chocolate and bacon together, and it's quite addictive (if you've never tried it, you need to. Like, now. Seriously. Now. Go find some.), but since I've made that before, I wanted to go in a different direction this time.

I ran across quite a few recipes for bacon-wrapped plums, and I started to get excited. While researching what kinds of fruit can be wrapped in bacon (it turns out it's pretty much any of them), I came across this wonderful post on foodnetwork.com for meals you can cook in a coffee mug. One of them is a berry crisp. Berries? Berries are a fruit! I could add bacon to the berry crisp! But I didn't have any berries. The only fruit I had was mango and pineapple. Pineapple and bacon sounded kind of terrible to me, but mango on the other hand sounded like it might be pretty great..

A little research brought me to the conclusion that bacon and mango are actually pretty amazing friends. They pair beautifully and complement each other in so many different respects. If you're interested in experimenting with creating mango recipes, I came across this amazing visual from foodpairing.com.

So rather than a berry crisp, I decided to make a mango crisp - with bacon. How could that not turn out awesome?!

So here are the ingredients you need:

  

 1 silly coffee mug your best friend gave you

3/4 cup of mango, chopped (I like using previously frozen and now thawed)

1/2 slice of bacon
2 Tbsp quick cooking oats
1 Tbsp flour (I used coconut flour, but you can use regular or almond)

1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 Tbsp butter or margarine

The Method:

Get your coffee ready and put Frozen on for your toddler (for the fifth time today).

Get your half-slice of bacon cooked until it's nice and crispy, and drain it on a paper towel. Finely chop it and set it aside. Save the grease and let it cool a bit. Regarding half-slices of bacon: I've found that cutting my bacon in half makes all my bacon-related activities so much easier; it fits perfectly on sandwiches, you can fit more into the pan, it fits into sandwich bags for easy storage, and my daughter eats only one half a slice at breakfast with her egg. I highly recommend halving your bacon!

While this is going on, pour your mango into your coffee mug along with the lime juice and microwave on high for one minute. If it was refrigerated and still cold before you put it in, stir and nuke it for another 30 seconds. A lot of juice will magically appear in the cup, and that's exactly what you're looking for.

Next, turn your attention to the crumble topping. Steal a bowl from your daughter's cabinet and with a fork, mix the flour, the oats, and the brown sugar together, breaking up any lumps.

 

Add the honorary ingredient to your crumb mix!

Mix the bacon in very well, and add your butter/margarine as well as the super secret ingredient - the bacon grease! I know, it doesn't sound super healthy, but it's worth it. I promise. And it's International Bacon Day, afterall! Take the fork to the mix like a kid does with mashed potatoes, pressing down into the mixture and scraping it along the sides of the bowl. Keep doing this until your crumb mixture turns crumbly. You shouldn't see any powdery substance anywhere in the bowl when it's ready. 

Please don't make the same mistake I did here: I loved the smell of this so much that I couldn't resist a taste - I had forgotten that the oats weren't cooked yet. Blegh. Gross. Be patient and wait for it to cook before tasting.

Pour the crumb mixture over the top of your mangos in your coffee mug. Don't pat it down. Just let it sit on top. Stick that guy in the microwave for one and a half minutes. 

  

Be very careful taking it out of the microwave. Mine boiled over a little and the cup was extremely hot. You may want to use a potholder. When it came out, it smelled so marvelous that I honestly didn't want to take pictures or wait for anything else before digging in.

At this point, grab a spoon and dig in! You can eat it however you want; I chose to mix it and add some Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey added. It would have been wonderful with some vanilla ice cream as well!

The salt and the meatiness from the bacon bring out so much sweetness and tang from the mango, and the "crumble" adds a pleasant texture to the whole dessert. This is definitely a keeper for my mango repertoire! More than that, I believe it is quite the successful tribute to International Bacon Day. I also think I'm pretty sold on the idea of coffee mug desserts!

Do you cook any meals in coffee mugs? Let me know your recipes in the comments or shoot me an email! Until then, happy cooking, and happy bacon day!

May you and your coffee both be strong,

Meggan

Green Pepper Beef Stroganoff

Today's dish was inspired by 4.5/5-star-after-1407-reviews "Beef Stroganoff III" from allrecipes.com (which just so happens to be my favourite recipe site). I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand, so I improvised, adapted, overcame, and man did it turn out delicious! Even my husband, who is apprehensive about trying new recipes (and very difficult to impress!), tried this one and gave it two thumbs way up! And it's gluten-free if you use the right brands and opt for rice or gluten-free pasta.

Here's what you'll need:

Large skillet with lid

1 lb of ground beef (if using ground turkey or leaner than 85/15, just add one to two tablespoons of oil)

2 small-medium green bell peppers, seeds removed

1/2 of a large onion (yellow or white)

1 c milk

1 c water

1/3 c plain Greek yogurt (if gluten-free, be careful the brand - some have gluten)

1/3 c cream cheese

1/3 c sherry or white wine

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins is gluten-free)

1 Tbsp yellow mustard (French's is gluten-free)

1 Tbsp each of cornstarch and water (just mix them together until there are no lumps)

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

The Method:

Prepare (or have your husband buy for you) a cup of coffee (or tea if you prefer) to enjoy while cooking. Place it somewhere easy to access at all times. This is vital to the success of the dish.

Brown the ground beef (or turkey) in your skillet over medium heat. While that's going, thinly slice your green peppers and onions (I chopped mine only because I have a toddler who will be eating, and she has an easier time with chopped veggies than sliced ones). If you're not confident with the knife, you may want to do this before you begin browning the meat.

Once your beef is sufficiently browned, scoot it all over to one side of the skillet and toss in your onions, as well as your teaspoon of salt. Stir those around with the drippings from the beef for about 3-5 minutes, until they start to become tender. Bask in the wonderful oniony aroma.

As soon as your onions are tender, you're ready to throw in your green peppers. Scoot the onions over with the meat to make room, and then dump your bells in along with your Worcestershire (love that sizzle!). Let those simmer for a minute or two before you mix everything in the pan all together and toss a lid on. Let that cook for 5-7 minutes, and in the meantime get your rice or pasta going (according to their package instructions) so that it's ready once the stroganoff is.

When your rice/pasta is ready to be independent for a while, take the lid off the meat mixture and give it a good stir. If it looks like your veggies are becoming nice and tender, you can move on to the next step. If not, let them cook for a couple minutes longer while you enjoy a few sips of your coffee. 

Once the peppers are good and tender, add your water and milk, and dump in your wine while you're at it (I know, I know, "if it isn't good enough to drink, it isn't good enough to cook with". The cooking wine is all I had because I drank all the stuff that was good enough to drink. Please forgive me). Bring that to a boil and stir in your cornstarch mixture, mixing very well.

This step is not something I've ever added to my stroganoff before, but it really did add such wonderful flavour that I will never omit it ever again, thanks to the allrecipes inspiration post! 1 Tbsp of yellow mustard. Yup. Sounds weird, but it gives the dish a wonderful vinegary note that I love so very much! Squirt that into your pan along with the garlic powder and mix it up.

Now you're going to drop in your yogurt and your cream cheese. Stir these in until the cream cheese is completely melted and integrated. You can go ahead and give it a taste if you'd like, now. Does it need more salt? Add some! Is it great? Of course it is! 

Now just grind some black pepper over the top and admire your work. Oh, and turn off the stove. That helps not burn down houses and stuff.

That's it! It's rich, creamy, and has a vinegary zip that will have you coming back for more! Serve the stroganoff over your rice or pasta, and enjoy it nice and piping hot. I actually always burn myself on my first bite of stroganoff, every stinkin' time. Does anyone else do that? The same with lasagna and Hot Pockets. Ugh, my poor tongue. But the taste is so worth it, even if I can't taste anything else for a couple of hours after.

There are a million and one different variations you can make on this dish. You can use the sour cream they used in the original recipe instead of Greek yogurt (I'm currently obsessed with Greek yogurt and use it every chance I get, but I won't judge you if you decide to forgo it), you can add in some of your favourite ranch dressing, add some red wine instead of white or sherry. Actually, if I had mushrooms on hand, they would have been in the pan in a heartbeat, but I don't because I ate them all already. You should totally try it, though. I also added frozen peas to my daughter's dish to cool it off for her because she is impatient, and because, you know, veggies. 

Did you have a variation I didn't mention? Tell me what it was! Until then, happy cooking!

May you and your coffee both be strong,

Meggan

Cheers and welcome!

Welcome to Cooking on Caffeine! 

My name is Meggan Leal. I am a wife, the mother of a baby girl -- er, toddler (wow, time flies!), and I'm excited to be able to share my passions for all things coffee and cooking with you! For many years I've pondered and considered and fought the desire to start a blog to share my culinary love with the world, but life always seemed to have a way of keeping me busy with other things. Well folks, I've finally done it! I hope to keep you addicted to your kitchen, testing out recipes with me from across the Web. I can't wait to see what we cook up!

May you and your coffee both be strong,

Meggan