The other week I was in my favorite bookstore finally buying Sunday Suppers at Lucques when I saw this magazine. I eat a lot of veg friendly meals for the sake of cost savings, but my body was craving meat. Not chicken- juicy iron filled steak. The cover of the Holiday Entertaining from Cook's Illustrated steak. So- I got my meat, came home, and made this. It was...delicious. I could have cracked the peppercorns better, but they still were wonderful and gave a great flavor to the oil and the meat. I'm convinced this is the best way to make steak- some searing then the oven. I cooked it exactly to my liking and Danielle's fiance, Erik, came back to the kitchen just to tell me how great it was. You should probably try this recipe out sooner than later.
Pepper-Crusted Filet, Cooks Illustrated
If you pick up a copy of this issue you'll learn more than I'm going to tell you here. However, as a base here's what to do:
Take your meat out of the fridge and let it get the chill off of it. Simmer 5 T peppercorns (cracked not ground) in 5 T olive oil. The pepper will become fragrant- about 7 minutes into simmering this. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add 1 T. kosher salt to the oil.
Take your steaks and rub them in the mixture, adhering peppercorns. Place the steaks in plastic wrap and put on a plate to make sure they are well coated. Let stand at room temperature up to an hour- I only allowed 20 min. because I was hungry!
Heat oven to 450. Remove any excess peppercorns in the oil and reheat the wonderful peppery oil. When the oil is hot place your steaks in it allowing to get a nice sear- about 3-4 minutes per side. You're looking for a nice brown crust. Remove from the pan when cooked on either side and place on a baking sheet then into the 450 degree oven. I like my meat a bit pink inside so I cooked them for about 3-4 minutes, let the meat rest for several minutes, and then in my opinion, cut into a very delicious steak.
Enjoy!
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