A New Favorite Thing!

Well... The end of the holiday season found me in possession of two new and unexpected gifts: 4 Filet Mignon Steaks and a bottle of Port. As previously discussed, cooking red meat intimidates the heck out of me and Filet Mignon was no exception. If anything, knowing it is an expensive cut of meat made me more nervous because if I "killed" it, I would feel like I wasted something really precious. As far as Port, I had heard of it, but had no idea what it tasted like or if I would like it. I had, however, seen it as an ingredient in several recipes so I did some homework to see what would happen if I put the Filet Mignon and the Port together...

I found a Filet Mignon recipe with a Port Wine Mushroom sauce. If you are anything like me, you read that and thought !!YUM!! So I made plans to cook my fancy meal this past Monday evening. The Filet Mignon turned out wonderful, the sauce was "so-so".

1. After reading up about how to cook those fancy-schmancy little steaks, I found several sources that recommended simply cooking them in a pan with a little olive oil over a high heat for a short period of time. Apparently overcooking filet mignon is considered a travesty so I heated the oil almost to the smoking point and then put my little steaks in the pan for 3 minutes on each side. I then let them sit for another 3 minutes with the pan covered but removed from the heat. They turned out delicious!

2. The sauce was very simple: Shallots, garlic, wild mushrooms, a pinch of sugar, salt & pepper sauteed in a little olive oil. Then you add a cup of the Port and boil for a few minutes and then 3 cups of chicken broth and boil for another 1/2 hour. The flavor was good but the sauce did not thicken at all so it was like pouring soup over my steak. I also thought that it would have tasted just as good with some white wine or sherry. Which brings me to point # 3.

3. I mentioned my bottle of Port to a co-worker and she told me that the proper way to consume Port is to sip it while nibbling Dark Chocolate. It just so happened that I had some Dove Dark Chocolate and so I poured myself a tiny glass and sipped and nibbled while cooking my meal (And I might add, felt very sophisticated while I was doing it!). Well... No sooner had I started sipping and nibbling, then I greatly regretted putting a whole cup of that lovely Port in my sauce! The Port and the dark chocolate together were completely wonderful and in a strange way, more satisfying to me than a whole piece of cake or other traditional dessert would have been.

So the moral of this story is: If you find yourself in possession of a bottle of Port, save it for sipping and dark chocolate nibbling and just use wine or sherry in your dinner sauce!