Slow Roasted Beef Tenderloin and Mashed Potatoes en Croute - An Easter Day Feast

What started as a dark and gloomy morning, turned into a beautiful sunny and warm Easter day.  After a morning of church and helping with the Easter egg hunt, we had a little work to do to put a beautiful Easter dinner on the table.  When it comes to Easter, we do not stick with tried and true dishes like we do for Thanksgiving.  Wait, let me make one exception.  We change things up with the exception of deviled eggs.  That is a must have.

Our 2013 Easter Dinner Menu:
Slow Roasted Filet of Beef 
Mashed Potatoes en Croute
Deviled Eggs 
Garden Salad
Blueberry and Blackberry Silent Shade Cobbler

I found the Slow Roasted Filet of Beef recipe in the Barefoot Contessa's new cookbook Foolproof.  I made this earlier in the year for my mom's birthday.  That go around I overcooked my tenderloin which was so disappointing, and I found out that this recipe is not totally foolproof (ha-ha).  However, we loved the crust created on the tenderloin from the salt, pepper and tarragon, and I knew we would need to give it another try.  This next go around we slowed cooked the beef in a roasting pan on our outside grill, and I put Walter in charge of cooking to perfection.

RECIPE:  Slow-Roasted Filet of Beef

Ingredients:

Ready for the Grill

1 whole filet of beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied (4 ½ pounds)

3 tablespoons good olive oil

4 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

10 to 15 branches fresh tarragon

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Use an oven thermometer to be sure your oven temperature is accurate!

Place the filet on a sheet pan and pat it dry with paper towels. Brush the filet all over with the oil, reserving about half a tablespoon. Sprinkle it all over with the salt and pepper (it will seem like a lot but believe me, it makes a difference). Place the tarragon branches around the beef, tying them in 4 or 5 places with kitchen string to keep them in place, and then brush the tarragon with the reserved oil.

Roast the filet of beef for 1¼ to 1½ hours, until the temperature registers 125 degrees in the center for rare and 135 degrees for medium rare. I place the thermometer horizontally through the end of the beef. Cover the filet with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Slice thickly and serve warm or at room temperature.   (Courtesy of Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust by Ina Garten)

Note:  There is a recipe for Basil Parmesan Mayonnaise that comes with this recipe, but I didn't make it this go around.

Ready to be eaten!

My childhood friend Chris shared  a recipe with me a week or so ago for Mashed Potatoes en Croute.   Knowing my affinity for mashed potatoes, she thought we'd love this.  And boy was she right!  Anytime you are concerned your mashed potatoes are not quite decadent enough, try out this recipe.  Puff pastry with rich mashed potatoes is delicious -- if you were wondering.  When boiling the potatoes, you include 2 bay leafs.  This adds an additional depth to the potatoes, and I would try this in the future when just making mashed potatoes.

RECIPE:  Mashed Potatoes en Croûte (as printed in Southern Living November 2010)

 Ingredients:

4 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup milk

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 (17.3-oz.) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed

1 large egg

1 tablespoon half-and-half

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Bring 2 qt. salted water to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and next 2 ingredients, and cook 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes, and discard bay leaves. Mash potatoes with a potato masher until soft and fluffy.

2. Microwave butter and cream in a small microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth; add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir butter mixture into mashed potatoes. Stir in egg yolks and cheese until smooth.

3. Press 1 pastry sheet into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, allowing edges to hang over sides. Spoon mashed potatoes into pie plate, and top with remaining pastry sheet. Crimp and fold edges inward. Cut several slits in top of pastry for steam to escape. Whisk together egg and half-and-half; brush over pastry.

4. Bake at 425° for 24 minutes or until pastry is golden and has risen slightly.

We enjoyed deviled eggs and a beautiful garden salad as additional sides to these delicious show stoppers.

Now with it being a holiday, we had to have a little something sweet for dessert.  I  went to my favorite go-to dessert for Silent Shade Cobbler (courtesy of Martha Hall Foose's Screen Doors and Sweet Tea cookbook).   We had some beautiful blueberries and blackberries at our market, so I made it the traditional way.  I posted the recipe for this back in February Crab Cakes, Gumbo, Cobbler and Oscar, but made it with apples then.  If you have not made this yet, what are you waiting for?  I can't get enough of this stuff!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!  We had a great day with full bellies.