Wolf's Den

Mark's boss sent home a recipe with him a few weeks ago, no name, just the recipe. She claimed it was excellent.

Well, I finally got around to making it this weekend.



Contains, technically, 3 ingrediants. But me being me, I put the garlic on the INSIDE, rather than the outside. So that makes it four ingrediants.}:P





You start out by setting the package of cream cheese out so it comes to room temp. Then you open the beef tenderloin package. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did and will find one that's considerably nicer looking.}:/



Butterfly cut the tenderloin. Let me just say right now, for the record- I have never, ever butterflied anything before. So, yeah, it looked like I butchered it. And yes, I know that's a Wusthof tomato knife. I don't have an actual fillet knife... yet. I think I did a reasonably good job... for a butcher. Hee.



Take your meat tenderizer and pound the crap out of the now mutilated-I mean, butterflied tenderloin. Get it as thin as you can, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Caena really did not like me beating the crap out of the meat. She tried to hide under Mark's desk. Poor puppers. Anyway, beat it thin.



Cover it with Pancetta slices. Good stuff, Pancetta. Only, it can be a pain to work with cause it's so stinkin' thin. I have some left over too, so I think I'll fry it up and eat it on a salad harvested from my garden. Yum.



Place the block of room temp cream cheese on the Pancetta covered beaten thin tenderloin. Yes, I know the Pancetta looks different in this picture. I tried to center the fool thing on the board better, and well, you see how well THAT worked out. Heh.



Smear it all over the tenderloin. For the record- I think it'd be easier if it was warmer than just room temp, honestly. It might have spread a bit easier. Note to self for next time.



Now the recipe says to rub garlic and black pepper all over the outside. I like garlic. I really like garlic. So I had a garlic 'paste' stuffs that I used and I smeared it liberally all over the cream cheese instead. I think next time, I'll throw in some basil or thyme too. I think that'd be good as well.




Roll up the tenderloin as snugly as you possibly can. It's messy, and splippery, so just do your best. Then, you can either use toothpicks to secure it closed, or as I attempted to do, tie it shut with kitchen string. Yeah, I've never really tied up a meat roll before either. But hey, it worked.

I then wrapped the whole thing in tin foil and stuck it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up the cream cheese a bit.



Meanwhile, you're preheating the oven to 400 degrees F. In a frying pan, melt 1/4 stick of butter and some olive oil. I used unsalted butter. Take your tenderloin out of the fridge if that's where you stuck it and unwrap it.




Put it in the pan with the melted butter and olive oil, liberally sprinkling it with black pepper on all sides before you do. Then, you want to carefully sear the outside, all the way around, just browning it nicely. Takes maybe 3-4 minutes.



Put it on a cookie sheet and stick that bad boy in the oven. I also poured the butter/olive oil mixture over the top for added flavor. You want to roast it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes per pound. so, since I used a 1.57lb tenderloin, I did mine for 30 minutes. Which, really wasn't enough in my opinion.}:/ My guinea pigs- I mean taste testers didn't care though. Heh.



When finished, remove from oven to cutting surface and let rest. We had a great laugh over how this looked. Rather suggestive, don't you think? I was highly amused. Yes, yes, it's the little things. Erm. Um. Anyway... moving right along...



Slice that sucker up. After you remove the strings of course. It's rather difficult to slice up with the string still on. Believe me, I know. I don't know why, but I tried to slice it with the string still on. Huh. Anyway, slice it into about 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices. YES, IT'S MESSY. But oh was the finger licking good. Not. A.Word. *glares*



See what I mean about maybe an extra 5 minutes or so? The guys (Mark and Charlie) like their meat medium-rare, I prefer medium-well. So needless to say, my portion was microwaved for a minute or so.}:P While the tenderloin was resting, I deglazed the pans and made a nice sauce with the drippings and such.



Served simply with steamed sweet corn and roasted garlic artisan bread. Sadly, there were no leftovers.}:(

No name beef tenderloin
aka
Pancetta/Cream Cheese/Garlic Beef Tenderloin

1 1.5-2lb beef tenderloin
1/4lb Pancetta, sliced thin
1 8ounce package of cream cheese, room temp or warmer
Garlic (I used paste)
Black pepper

Start by butterflying the tenderloin. Pound as flat as possible with tenderizer. Once butterflied and flattened, apply slices of pancetta over the entire tenderloin.

Spread the cream cheese over the pancetta. Here is where I also smeared the garlic paste over the cream cheese.

Roll tenderloin up and secure with either toothpicks or kitchen string/twine.

Melt 1/4 stick of butter and Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan. Brown all sides of tenderloin for 3-4 minutes in pan. Place on baking sheet and place in 400 degree F oven.

Bake for 20 minutes per pound. Let rest about 5-10 minutes, then slice thinly (about 1/4-1/2 inch thick). Serve warm.