Filet Mignon with Bordelaise Sauce

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This luscious, wine-enriched sauce is often paired with a hanger steak, a shell steak, or a tender filet mignon. Though this sauce is traditionally served with a dollop of beef marrow, we think it is just as delicious finished with a garnish of chopped fresh parsley and rosemary.
Source: Saveur
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Filet Mignon with Bordelaise Sauce Photo: Andre Baranowski

1 cup red wine
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 shallots, finely diced
1 bay leaf
6 tbsp. Demi-Glace
4  6-oz. filet mignons
Kosher salt and freshly ground
   black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1. Make the sauce: In a 2-qt. saucepan, combine wine, thyme, shallots, and bay leaf. Reduce wine over medium-high heat until almost completely evaporated. If using a gas stove, tip pan to ignite wine; this will aid in evaporation. Discard the thyme and bay leaf; stir in demi-glace. Cover, remove from heat, and set aside.

2. Prepare the filets: Heat oven to 500°. Season filets with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 10" skillet over high heat. Sear steaks, flipping once, until browned, 4–5 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven; roast until steaks are medium rare, 4–5 minutes. Place steaks on a plate; let rest.

3. Sauce the steak: Return saucepan to medium heat. Whisk in butter. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in parsley and season sauce with salt and pepper. Transfer steaks to cutting board; add juices from plate to pan and stir. Spoon 2 tbsp. sauce onto each of 4 plates. Slice steak into 1⁄4"-thick slices; divide between plates. Sprinkle with rosemary and thyme; drizzle each steak with 1 tbsp. sauce. Serve with baby lettuces, if you like. Yields 3⁄4 cup sauce.

SERVES 4

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #116

Ratings & Reviews (5)

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A great way to experiment with demi-glace!
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Scrumptious sauce!
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This sauce should be called beef syrup. The key is the demi glace. This magic base, or half stock, holds days of concentrated flavor in a single tablespoon. The friends we served hardly even noticed the expensive tenderloin. It was a mere side dish next to the bordelaise. In fact, one lady at the table asked for extra of the rich sauce. I told her there was no more tenderloin. She replied, "I know. It's for my vegetables."
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I made this (mostly because I had time off between the Holidays - it is an all-day process) and it turned out great! Be careful at the end, though. I was reducing it from the stock down to demi-glace and was checking on it every 45 minutes or so. I caught it right before it was almost all reduced. It almost burned in my pot. Instead of the medium-high heat suggested in the recipe. I would recommend just medium heat and check it often! I almost wasted 26 hours of my life.
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I made this on a whim one night (focusing on the sauce, not the cut of meat). The sauce was excellent even with the Williams-Sonoma demi glace I had on hand. I did follow the guide in one of the side bars in magazine and reduced the amount of demi glace I used by half and was not disappointed. I think had I gone with the full blown amount of the store bought it would have overpowered the sauce. I'll be trying this again after I make my own demi-glace and with filets.

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