Beef

Filets Mignons with Peppercorn Cream

Filet Mignon with Peppercorn Cream Sauce

I’m about to make a heretical statement: Steak doesn’t always need to be grilled to be great. Consider French pepper steak. This bistro classic is traditionally cooked in a skillet, which helps keep the peppercorn crust on the meat and gives you pan juices for making the sauce. A Frenchman would use cracked black pepper: I up the ante with a rub made with peppercorns, mustard seeds, fennel, and other spices, all skillet-toasted to give them a smoky flavor, then freshly ground in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.

Filets Mignons Recipe

Filets Mignons with Peppercorn Cream

Recipe Notes

Yield: Serves 2 really hungry guys or 4 people with normal appetites
Equipment: Your basic kitchen gear including a large (10- to 12-inch) skillet, preferably cast iron

Ingredients

For the steaks

4 filets mignons, cut from the center of a beef tenderloin (each about 1-1/4 inches thick and 5 to 6 ounces)
2 to 3 tablespoons Fennel Mustard Peppercorn Steak Rub (recipe follows), or 4 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea) and 4 teaspoons cracked black peppercorns
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) salted butter

For the peppercorn cream sauce

2 large shallots, peeled and minced (about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons green peppercorns, drained, or an additional 2 teaspoons Fennel Mustard Peppercorn Steak Rub
About 3 tablespoons Cognac
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, or more to taste
Coarse salt (kosher or sea)

Recipe Steps

1: Cook the steaks: Thickly crust (rub) the steaks on all sides with the Fennel Mustard Peppercorn Steak Rub. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the steaks and rub it onto the meat on all sides.

2: Melt the butter in the remaining oil in a large skillet over high heat, swirling the pan to coat the bottom evenly. Add the steaks and sear them on both sides until crusty and brown, about 2 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking the steaks until done to taste, 2 to 4 minutes more per side for medium-rare. Transfer the steaks to a warm platter and keep warm by loosely laying a sheet of aluminum foil over the steaks. Don’t seal the foil to the platter or you’ll wind up steaming the crusty exterior.

3: Make the pepper sauce: Add the shallots and green peppercorns or the additional steak rub to the skillet and cook over medium heat until the shallots begin to brown, about 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

4: Add the Cognac and let it come to a boil, scraping the bottom of the skillet with the spoon to dissolve any meat juices. Boil the Cognac until it is reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Add the cream and mustard and boil until thick, flavorful, and reduced by about half, about 3 minutes, whisking well. Season with salt or additional mustard to taste; the sauce should be highly seasoned. Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve at once.

Recipe Tips

What Else: The sauce calls for green peppercorns. They’re the fruit of the pepper plant, which when processed and dried, become white or black pepper. Look for green peppercorns bottled in brine at specialty food shops, or for even more flavor, find fresh or frozen green peppercorns at an Asian market. I’ve made the peppercorns optional. In the event you can’t find them, season the sauce with an additional spoonful of the pepper steak rub.

Sub Recipe: Fennel Mustard Peppercorn Steak Rub

Spicy, sweet, and intensely aromatic, this rub was inspired by Florida Keys chef and caterer Mike Ledwith. Toasting the spices in a dry skillet gives them a smoky flavor. This makes a little more rub than you need for the Filets Mignons with Peppercorn Cream, but it’s easier to roast and grind the spices in larger batches. Any excess makes a killer seasoning for all sorts of meats. Note: You’ll also need a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder or mortar and pestle for grinding the spices. Makes about 2/3 cup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 whole allspice berries, or 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (see Note)
3 tablespoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1. Heat a dry cast-iron skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the peppercorns, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, and whole allspice berries, if using. Cook the spices until they are fragrant and lightly toasted, 1 to 3 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the ground allspice in the last 10 seconds of roasting. Do not let the spices burn. Transfer the spices to a heatproof bowl to cool.

2. Place the toasted spices in a spice grinder and coarsely grind them, running the machine in short bursts. Add the salt and hot pepper flakes.

Note: If you can find it, use grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta) in place of the allspice. This is a West African spice in the ginger family that looks and tastes like miniature black peppercorns but has a pungent sweet aftertaste reminiscent of allspice. Look for it online or at specialtyspice shops. You’ll need 1 tablespoon here.