This is the making of a very special meal to impress your loved ones on any day of the year. A beautifully cooked, tender filet with a rich pepper sauce and crispy salt & vinegar hasselback potatoes on the side.
Top Tip: Start the potatoes early, they take a long time to crisp up, but you can get a bunch done while they are cooking – like preparing the rest of your meal, sorting out a desert or setting the table.
The filet is a delicate cut of meet, one that can dry up very quickly and overcook on the grill or over a flame, so we recommend a beautiful pan sear, followed by finishing time in the oven, like in this recipe. The secret to a beautiful piece of filet mignon is to cook it in a pan that can then be placed in the oven (like a cast iron skillet or a copper pan) – so basically something without plastic handles that can be placed in the oven to finish the cooking process in a hot oven.
The reason for this double action cooking approach? The oven provides an indirect heat that is great for finishing off the meat without overcooking, while the pan sear gives the meat that beautiful caramelized grilled appearance and locks in all the flavor too.
We can’t stress this enough – REST YOUR STEAKS! Resting your steak is so important, and as a rule of thumb we recommend resting steaks for the same amount of time they cooked for. So in this case we are talking about 11 minutes rest time. This does sound like a lot but trust us. Resting ensures a few things – it allows the juices to distribute evenly after the cooking period (so you’re less likely to get juices on the plate). It also continues to cook the meat slightly and also lets it cool down to a more reasonable eating temperature – or closer to it.