Grenache
Grenache (or Garnacha) is grown around the Mediterranean and makes light bodied red wines that have plenty of red fruit along with spice notes. These are easy drinking, affordable wines.
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LGCM / Recipes / Beef Recipes / Tenderloin Filet with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce
Treat yourself to a restaurant-style meal at home by cooking a tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce!
When you want to enjoy a date night at home, celebrate an occasion like Valentine’s Day, entertain your classy friends, or just make a Wednesday feel super classy, our tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce is a simple recipe to cook that will instantly turn your atmosphere to “fancy.”
The savory, earthy notes of the mushroom and wine-based sauce add a burst of flavor to the tenderloin filet that really enhances the meal. The sauce is cooked in the same pan as the filets, and only takes about ten minutes while the steak rests, so it doesn’t add much time, work, or dishes to your evening.
We promise that our tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce recipe is straightforward and simple for you to cook, but we know when you’re cooking something special like filet, you may have a few questions in your head to get the recipe correct before you get started.
If you want to get cooking, scroll down to the ingredients, otherwise, here are the answers to a few frequently asked questions:
We sear the filets on all sides in a cast iron skillet, which gives the filet a fantastic crust and leaves it nice and pink in the middle. It’s a classic way to cook tenderloin filet, and works well.
If you like a little bit more evenly cooked filet, we recommend using our sear then move to the oven filet recipe or, for the ultimate in evenly cooked steak, try our sous vide tenderloin filet recipe!
Tenderloin filets are very tender, but not the most flavorful of steaks. They are also a very expensive steak, since they are among the most limited cuts on a beef animal. If you prefer a different steak for flavor or cost reasons, you can still make this recipe. Here are some steaks you could use instead of tenderloin filet:
If you chose to make this recipe with one of the steaks I listed above, you can still follow the directions to sear the steak in a cast iron skillet, and then make the sauce in that pan, but you may need to sear your steaks in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan since each of those steaks is larger than a tenderloin filet.
We used baby portabella mushrooms that were grown by our country neighbors at River Valley Ranch. The mushrooms are tender with a nice meaty flavor that is just perfect when you’re making a tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce.
If you don’t have access to these mushrooms, or just prefer something different, there are plenty of other types of mushrooms that work for this recipe, such as:
The rule-of-thumb when making a wine sauce to serve with meat is to use a wine that you would pair with the meat to make the sauce. For a tenderloin filet, we would recommend pairing it with a lighter-bodied red such as Pinot Noir or Grenache.
In our case, we enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Noir with this meal, so we made our red wine mushroom sauce with Pinot Noir. Since this recipe doesn’t need a lot of wine, we used the bottle that we were serving for cooking as well.
However, if you don’t plan on drinking wine with the meal, or want to keep all of your wine to drink (especially if you’re opening an expensive bottle!), it is totally fine to buy an inexpensive bottle of wine to use for the sauce.
Finally, if you prefer a fuller-bodied red such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon with the meal and would like to make your sauce with that wine, that works too! Your sauce will be a bit bolder and stronger in flavor than if you use Pinot Noir, but it will be a good pairing with the wine.
We serve this dish with rice and grilled asparagus, and it was a delicious meal. We like putting the filet on a bed of rice because it soaks up any extra sauce and tastes delicious!
Other possible side dishes include
We hope we answered any questions you may have about our tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce recipe, but if we didn’t, leave us a comment below and we’ll do our best to help you out with an answer!
Now on to the recipe – we hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave feedback after you’ve cooked. Thank you!
Generously season your filets on all sides with salt and pepper, or your favorite steak seasoning. Add 1.5 tbsp. olive oil and 1.5 tbsp. butter to a large cast iron skillet and heat to medium-high heat.
Once the oil and butter is melted, add the filets, and cook for about 10 – 12 minutes, turning frequently to sear all sides. Cook until the filet reaches 125ºF for rare to 135ºF for medium. We do not recommend cooking beyond medium.
Once the filets are cooked, remove them from the skillet and wrap them with foil to keep them warm. Set aside. Add the remaining butter into the same skillet and once the butter is melted, add the sliced mushrooms and diced shallot. Cook for about 3 minutes until the mushrooms are tender and browned.
Add the wine and thyme sprigs into the pan and mix together, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan into the sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce is reduced by about half, approximately 5 minutes. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt or pepper as necessary.
Serve your tenderloin filets over white rice with a generous helping of mushrooms and sauce on top and grilled asparagus on the side.
Congratulations, you’ve made a tenderloin filet with red wine mushroom sauce – enjoy!
Grenache (or Garnacha) is grown around the Mediterranean and makes light bodied red wines that have plenty of red fruit along with spice notes. These are easy drinking, affordable wines.
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned grape that produces light red wines. The best Pinot Noirs are fruity, earthy and spicy and very easy to drink!