Fancy Shmancy Filet Mignon and Loaded Mashed Potatoes

On Friday night, Lee came home with some "beef tenderloin steaks." He was very disappointed, but I wasn't in the mood to cook and I had never heard of this type of steak, so at the time I was very overwhelmed and just not in a good mood. period. We had the tenderloin steak tonight.

A little research online for recipes told me that beef tenderloin steaks are also known as filet mignon! I had never had filet mignon before and was so excited to try it! I learned that filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef, so therefore the most expensive. Because it has little fat, it is frequently cooked wrapped in bacon. it can be seared on a flat pan or grill. We were tired of the George Foreman, so I decided to use my enameled cast iron dutch oven for the job.

When I have steak, I think potatoes go well with it, so I decided to do mashed potatoes as a side dish. Since the filet mignon was wrapped in bacon, I thought loaded mashed potatoes would be a good choice. I wasn't very excited when I learned that loaded mashed potatoes had sour cream in them since I don't like sour cream, but I went with it because I'd had loaded mashed potatoes before and liked them.

I had a little trouble with making the mashed potatoes; I didn't cook them long enough at first and had to throw some more water on top and try again. Other than that, the mashed potatoes were easy, especially since I left on the skin, and we both loved them! Lee asked me to make these often.

For the filet mignon, one of the recipes I found didn't have any seasonings, it just called for wrapping the filet mignon in bacon and cooking as is. I wanted a bit more flavour, so I did it differently. I thought that I'd try to make fewer dirty dishes and I cooked the bacon for the mashed potatoes, and sautéed the garlic in my dutch oven where I was going to cook the meat. I thought that helped give it a little more flavor. We both loved the filet mignon and I ate it all even though I was so full afterward! Hey, it's not every day we get to eat something so fancy, I might as well enjoy it!

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

2½-3	lbs red potatoes
1/4	cup butter
3	garlic cloves
½	tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1/6	cup of finely chopped chives
1/4	cup sour cream
1/8	cup milk
1/4	cup cooked bacon, chopped
1	tablespoon kosher salt, divided (to taste)
½	tablespoon black pepper (to taste)

1. Cook bacon, set aside to cool. Chop when cooled.
   
2. Scrub potatoes, dice with skin on, taking care to cut out any black spots.
3. Place in a pot with cold water and a crushed clove of garlic on the stove; high setting.
4. When water boils, add ½ tbsp salt and cook until soft and a knife inserted easily comes out.
5. Mince and sauté two cloves of garlic in olive oil until brown and caramelized.
6. Drain potatoes and remove garlic clove.
7. Mash and add sautéed garlic and remaining ingredients.
8. Mix well.

Filet Mignon

2 beef tenderloin steaks
salt
pepper
garlic
4 uncooked strips of streaky bacon (regular bacon in the States)
1 tbsp butter

1. If making loaded mashed potatoes, cook the bacon and sauté the garlic in heavy-bottomed pan to be used for the filet mignon. Leave the fat and some garlic behind for flavor.
   
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of steak. Wrap with bacon, two strips of bacon per steak. Hold bacon in place with toothpicks.
   
3. Melt butter in pan.
4. Add steaks and sear 7-9 minutes on each side. Filet mignon is meant to be on the rare side.
5. Remove toothpicks and serve.