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Pan-Roasted Filet Mignon Stuffed with English Stilton Served with Potato Walnut Confit and Port Wine Reduction

Sounds expensive (and delicious), right?

Well, it wasn’t too expensive ($85 in groceries, $22 of which was the cheese), and it was heavenly!

It all started when Megan requested that I cook dinner for the two of us on Friday for our date night. All she said was that she wanted something made with beef.

A little searching on teh tubes and I had my recipe. I like trying new recipes, as I usually learn new techniques and flavor profiles when I do. The first problem I saw with this one was the cheese. Stilton isn’t exactly something you just run down to Wal Mart and pick up. A few phone calls later and I had found my store – Whole Foods of all places.

As an aside, apparently Megan has been shopping at Whole Foods for quite some time now, but because I’m a stubborn sonofabitch that was protesting my sons vegan eating habits, I wasn’t in on the secret until just recently.

Anyway, I needed Stilton cheese, which is an English blue cheese, very creamy in flavor with just enough sharpness to fall this side of too strong. It’s pretty tasty, but a little pricey. I got 8 oz. for $22. I used 2 ounces, so I can make this meal again soon. Whole Foods had my cheese, so I figured I’d do the rest of the shopping there as well. After all, I’d seen Whole Foods on Top Chef, if it was good enough for them, it was certainly good enough for me.

$85 dollars later I had what I needed and we headed home.

The whole thing starts with 4-color fingerling potatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick and then tossed in olive oil and dried thyme, with a dash of salt and pepper (easy on the pepper, here) to bring out the flavor. Throw ‘em in an oven proof saute pan and roast at 400° for 30-40 minutes, until they’re browned on the edges and cooked through. Take ‘em out of the saute pan and set ‘em aside, but keep ‘em warm. Deglaze the pan with about 1 cup of beef stock and reduce by half, then set that aside as well.

Next, put about 3 strips of good thick-cut bacon that’s been chopped into medium-sized chuncks into an oven-proof sautee pan. Cook it until it’s almost crispy, then throw in 1 cup of walnut pieces and 1 clove of chopped garlic. Sautee it all together, then add it to the potatoes. Reserve the bacon grease.

Take 2 shallots and cut them into 1/4″ thick rings. Get a sauce pan and heat about 1 cup of vegetable or canola oil to rippling. Add the bacon grease. Dredge the shallots in a bit of flour, then fry them in the grease for about 2 minutes, or until they’re just starting to get crispy.

While that’s happening, take your 2 filets and cut a 1″ slit on one side and carefully sliding the knife from one side of the filet to the other, form a pocket inside for the cheese. Fill the pocket with about 2 tablespoons of crumbled Stilton cheese. In the skillet you cooked the bacon on, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and sear the filets for about 2 minutes oin each side, then stick it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes for a nice medium rare.

Set the filets aside to rest for about 10 minutes and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of ruby port and reduce by half.

To put the whole thing together, mound some potatoes in the center of the plate, place the filet on top, add some shallots to the side, spoon the reduced beef stock over the filet, drizzle the port reduction around the plate, top the filet with a few crumbles of cheese and sprinkle with a bit of fresh parsley.

Tada.

A little bit of work, sure, but it was heavenly!