Coffee-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

When the girls go down for a nap, I get the urge to eat something awful.  It's never grapes, dried fruit, nuts.  It's bad stuff.  Today...Doritos.  A tall glass of water and some Doritos.  I'm trying to keep my keys from turning orange as I blog today.  :)  I'm also hungry because I went to water aerobics and was starving afterwards and ate an early lunch.  I go to a different class now, so I no longer have excellent stories from the senior citizens class I used to be in.  I do get to run into them, though.  I think my class moves outside once the pool opens up and if things get too heated, I'm going to have to switch to the senior time slot and keep working out inside.  Nobody likes heat stroke while we exercise.

Last week seemed to be new recipe week.  I did the Carl's Jr. chicken sandwich, zucchini fries, and I also took a stab at cracked/smashed potatoes.  Next I moved on to a coffee-crusted beef tenderloin.  They don't really make a cut called beef tenderloin, so I went with a tip roast.  Adam and I love to eat at Stoneyriver and they have a melt-in-your-mouth coffee cured steak.  While this isn't really like it, it's still delicious.  Aubrie even liked it.  As you can see in the picture, I had plenty of zucchini fries left over so I just re-heated them at 350 for about 12 minutes and they were still crunchy and delicious like they were the other night.

Coffee-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

from myrecipes.com

1 tablespoon freshly ground dark roast coffee

1 teaspoon kosher salt or

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided

1 (2-pound) beef tenderloin, trimmed

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 (14-ounce) can less-sodium beef broth

2 cups brewed dark roast coffee

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup chopped shallots

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or

1/8 teaspoon table salt

Thyme sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.  Combine ground coffee, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 1/4 teaspoons pepper; gently press onto beef. Place tenderloin on a rack coated with cooking spray in a shallow roasting pan. Bake at 500° for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300°; bake tenderloin for 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) or desired degree of doneness. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

While beef cooks, place flour in a small bowl; gradually add broth and brewed coffee, stirring with a whisk until well blended.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add broth mixture, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Cook until sauce is reduced to 1 cup (about 20 to 25 minutes). Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Serve sauce with sliced beef. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.  Enjoy!


The other thing I've been wanting to try is a custard.  For some reason a lemon custard sounded good and I thought it would pair good with blackberries, which have been on sale.  So I found a recipe and gave it a try.  I didn't have custard cups to cook it in, so I used ramekins instead.  It still turned out pretty good.  It was a little nerve-wracking getting the cups into the dish and then pouring hot boiling water into the pan and getting it into the oven, but I got it done.  :)

Lemon Custard Cakes

from Martha Stewart Living

• 1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup(s) fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup(s) milk
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
• Unsalted butter, room temperature, for custard cups
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 2 teaspoon(s) grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon), or up to 3 teaspoons, if desired
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set a kettle of water to boil. Butter six 6-ounce custard cups and place in a dish towel-lined baking dish or roasting pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until light; whisk in flour. Gradually whisk in lemon juice, then milk and zest.
3. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add to lemon batter and fold in gently with a whisk (batter will be quite liquid).
4. Divide batter among prepared custard cups; place baking dish in oven and fill with boiling water to reach halfway up sides of cups. Bake until puffed and lightly browned (but pudding is still visible in bottom), 20 to 25 minutes. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.
   
   Enjoy!

I don't have anything wild planned for this week.  I did want to make sweet potato pancakes with peach butter this weekend, but luckily I checked the recipe the night before and it said to mix the batter and let it set for an hour or more.  I'm glad I didn't read that in the morning while I had everything out and ready to go with hungry children bouncing down the stairs!  I'll try it later this week.  Maybe even for dinner!  Although, we did have biscuits, hash brown casserole, and eggs for dinner last night.  Adam and I made breakfast for dinner while the girls were watching Frosty the Snowman and Petey was hiding from the lightening storm.  It was definitely an unusual night. 

I've also been busy getting Emilie's big girl room ready.  This is one of the advantages of not finding out the sex of the baby.  I get to use the same nursery for all three kids, and then spend money and decorate for each child when they are ready to have a big kid room.  We got her bedding at Pottery Barn and then I painted the owl and letters to match.  I got the two birds at Kirklands and then hung some pictures of Emilie with her dad and big sister up on the wall.  I hope to put up some more in the bigger frame that works like a pinboard.  We still have work to do.  We have to get her some furniture and then get another rail so she doesn't fall out.  Aubrie's bed was pushed against the wall when she made the transition at 18 months.  But Emilie's room has a weird placement of windows and closet doors that we can't push it against the wall, so she'll be double railed.  We've also done some new things to Aubrie's room to make her feel special, too, but I'll share those photos after we finish Emilie's room. 

I hope everyone had a good weekend!  OH!  I almost forgot!  Check the bottom of the blog!  I put a pinterest button for those of you who like to pin things.  Now you can pin a recipe or picture from my blog!  YAY!  I am also trying something new with my photos.  I hope you like it.   Love to all!

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