Cooking, that is.
Because I’m having surgery on June 12, we’re having Father’s Day today (my son has to work tomorrow.) Ivylad requested I cook him dinner. (We’re trying to save money, so restaurants are out, and he’s not been feeling well, so dinner lately has been catch as catch can.)
So, the menu for tonight is:
Filet mignon
Rock lobster tail
Baked potato
Corn
Cheesecake
We don’t normally eat a lot of steak, and I want to make sure I do the mignon right. This is my secret boyfriend’s recipe for sirloin steak…would that work for the filet mignon? I wasn’t planning on doing a marinade, but if I have the ingredients and the time, I’m open to it.
I’ve got the instructions for the lobster tail, as well as butter and lemon, so I’m set with that.
Suggestions welcome…and hurry!
Normally what I do with filet is pretty easy.
Sear the outside in a pan (preferably nonstick, you want all the tasty bits on the bottom to make a tasty sauce), then throw the shole shebang in the oven to finish cooking - to the temp you prefer. GypsyBoy and I are rabid carnivores, so, really, we sometimse eat it after the sear and bypass the oven - the rarer the better for us. But when we don’t feel like grossing out guests with our still-mooing entrees, I’ll finish it in the oven to an EARLY Med-Rare Temp.
Anything past that really ruins the flavor of the filet, IMO. A little salt and pepper prior to the sear is really all you need for flavor. Slap a little compund butter on top after cooking, and mm-MM! Tasty artery clogging goodness.
Good luck!
We’re a medium-medium rare family. So I shouldn’t try broiling it…I should be searing it first, then broiling it? We have a cast iron skillet…will that work?
We sear in a heavy-bottomed stainless sautee pan. The whole thing is steel, so I jam the entire mess in the oven after I sear it. I wouldn’t sear THEN broil. You’ll have a SUPER crusty (possibly burned outside) and maybe an over cooked inside.
I never thought of a cast iron skillet, but I think that may work. Just keep an eye on it - cast iron tends to hold a LOT of heat, and it may overcook the meat in the oven.
I’m in Orlando - let me know if you need help, and I can swing by - you know, like the Rescue Chef. WIth boobs. 
Oh - and for a small fee - say…one of those lobster tails? Mmmm - Lobsterrrr…
I’m being facetious of course. I would try the cast iron if you have no stainless cookware. Like I said, keep and eye on it in the oven so it doesn’t dry up into Filet Du Hockey Pucks.
I think Ivylad got rid of all the stainless steel skillets…he swears by cast iron, but I find the things too damn heavy. We do have some cookie sheets that are not cast iron…I might try those.
Cast iron will be fine for the initial sear.
I do more or less the same thing as LilGypsyGirl - sear in a stainless steel (or in your case, cast iron) pan, then I put it on a pan with a rack and throw it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5-10 minutes, depending on 1) how thick the filets are and 2) if I remembered to take them out of the fridge so they’re not cold (cold takes longer to cook). That usually gets them perfectly medium rare.
Let them rest for a few minutes before you eat them, so the juices are absorbed into the meat when you cut into it.
What time we eating?
Potatoes are baking. I forgot…the appetizer is crab-stuffed mushrooms. I don’t like mushrooms, but Ivylad does. I found a lovely little local market that hand cuts steaks…but they’re mostly a seafood place, with fish, oysters, clams, crabs as big as your head, and live lobsters. I’d rather not deal with a live lobster…so I got frozen rock lobster tails.
Ivygirl got one of those variety cheesecake platters…you know, about 12-14 different flavors of cheesecake, all in one pie. I think we’re doing pretty good for Father’s Day.
I’ll get the filets out now to “warm up” before sticking them in the skillet.
Because my wife likes her steak well done and I like mine as rare as I can get it I use a method I first read about here. I cook her steak in an oven low and slow (225 deg F) until it reaches the desired internal temperature, then sear it for just a few seconds on a hot cast iron skillet or grill. I just throw mine on the same skillet for the same time and it comes out fine.
It works out great for my wife, because previously if a steak had any thickness at all it was burned on the outside before reaching the stage of doneness she prefers (actually, it’s more like insists on). I’ve tried to break her of that, but it’s been 35 years and she’s proving recalcitrant.