Sorry, no review of restaurant cuisine or fabulous nightlife from New Year’s Eve here. Instead, we stayed home and made this great dish for a cold, cold night. Thanks to Joy Bauer on the Today show for giving us a warm and tasty New Year’s Eve dinner. The link is here. We substituted some other root vegetables for the Delicata squash she recommended, and there was no fall off in flavor! Joy was right to use plenty of thyme leaves on the vegetables. Likewise, we did not spray oil onto the pan or vegetables. We used a good quality extra-virgin olive oil to brush both pan and vegetables. For those who can’t find the link, we include the instructions here. The recipe also refers to a White Wine Mushroom Sauce which can be found at the link, but which we did not try. Finally, any kind of mushroom you like will be great in this dish.
Ingredients
• One (4 to 5 lb) whole beef tenderloin, tied with string from butcher
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons peppercorns crushed, or fresh black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt, divided
• 16 ounces cremini mushrooms halved
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)
• 1 medium Delicata squash, seeded cut into ¾” rings
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
• 3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
• 1 to 2 red onions, cut into 6 small wedges
• 3 to 4 fresh thyme sprigs
Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Liberally coat a large skillet with olive oil spray and warm over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and season with ⅛ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Cook 5 minutes or until just tender. Transfer to bottom of roasting pan.
Add the beef on top of the mushrooms in roasting pan, and rub with mustard and season generously with crushed peppercorns and 2 teaspoons salt. Drizzle the optional butter over the top of the beef.
Toss the cut veggies into the pan evenly around the beef, mist them generously with olive oil spray, season with a sprinkling salt and pepper and nestle in thyme sprigs.
Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes at 425°F. Then lower the oven to 375°F, give the veggies a good stir, and cook for about 30-45 minutes (or until the beef reaches an internal temperature of 145°F). If you like your steak rare, while its not recommended for safety reasons, remove when the thickest part hits 125°F. It’s always best to use a meat thermometer.
Remove the beef and veggies from the pan to a serving plate and cover with foil for at least 10 minutes before slicing to lock in the juices. Top with White Wine Mushroom Sauce.
Makes 12 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour