Beef tenderloin is expensive, but a piece of the fillet is easy to cook and the meat is tender and juicy. We use the same pan to saute up some mushrooms to serve on top.

This recipe has been updated: January 19, 2002

We take the meat out of the refrigerator and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. We make a paste in a small bowl out of the garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.

We make horizontal slits on the top of the fillet and rub the garlic paste in and all over the meat. We heat a large saute pan with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and when hot add the fillet. We want to brown it all over, including the ends. This takes about 5 minutes, we don’t want the garlic to get too dark so we control the heat.

When the meat is evenly browned, we transfer it to a shallow baking dish and place it in the oven. We roast it for about 35 minutes, checking after 25 minutes. We want the meat to be about 130 degrees for medium-rare. When done, we remove the beef from the oven and place it on a plate to rest for 10 minutes.

We heat the pan we browned the meat in and deglaze it with a little water. We scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon and pour this flavorful liquid into a cup. We saute some mushrooms, add a little sherry, then the deglazing liquid, and then any jus (juice) accumulated on the plate the meat is resting on. We heat on low for a few minutes and we have our topping for the beef.

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