Julia Child's Beef Saute with Cream and Mushroom

mmm

I just made another Julia Child recipe. Oh my goodness, that woman. My book club decided to read a cook book this month, and we came to a concensus on Julia's Mastering the Art of French cooking. For our meeting, we all made a recipe from the book and shared. I chose something fancy, but simple as the main entree, and everyone loved it. It was easy and fast--warm, creamy, and even kind of delicate :)

Here's what you need:

MUSHROOMS:
2 Tb butter
1 Tb cooking oil
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
3 Tb diced shallots
Salt and pepper

BEEF:
2 Tb butter
1 Tb cooking oil

mushrooms are my favorite

2 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin
salt and pepper

SAUCE:
1/4 cup of some kind of red wine (which I didn't use, just replaced with more broth)
3/4 cup of beef broth
salt and pepper
1 cup cream
2 tsp cornstarch
2 Tb butter

garnish: parsley

cow

Here's what to do:

Saute-ing the mushrooms blew my mind. I've never sauteed mushrooms dry before! I'll be doing it this way from now on.

Add the butter and oil to a non-stick pan (Julia says to use an enameled pan, but who has those?) over medium high heat. After the butter stops foaming, add the sliced DRY mushrooms and flip and stir until they soak up all the oil. Continue to saute for 2-3 minutes until they're lightly browned.

Add the shallots to the mushrooms and saute for a minute or two. Season. Remove to a plate.

Cut up your beef in 2 inch cubes and dry it off with a paper towel. Drying is super important. We watched part of Julia's first TV episode of The French Chef, and she demonstrated--it makes it so the beef sears instead of steams.

coolest thing to see it actually searing like it's supposed to :)

Add the butter and oil to the pan over medium high heat, and wait for the froth to go away. Add half the meat and let each side brown for a few minutes. The insides will be rosy red--very rare--, and the outside will be a deeply seared brown.

Do your second batch and remove it all the a plate.


Remove the oil, and add the broth. Deglaze the pan and boil down the broth until it leaves about 1/3 cup remaining. (I"m sure this dish would be mind-crushing instead of just mind-blowing with the wine, but I prefer not to waste my money on something I'm only going to use a 1/4 cup on. Since we don't drink alcohol, we try to substitute as often as possible, even in cooking.)

getting all thick and stuff.

Mix cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of your cream. Add the remaining cream to the broth, and your cornstarch mixture. Stir and bring to a simmer. Season.

Add the mushrooms to the sauce and simmer for a couple minutes until it thickens a little bit. Add the beef and keep warm. Mine kept for 30 minutes while waiting for people to arrive, and it was still fine. When you're ready to serve, turn up the heat for 3-4 minutes, basting the beef with the cream sauce. Add that ever-present final French touch of 2 tablespoons butter. Garnish with parsley sprigs. Serves 4-5.

Serve with rice, potatoes, noodles, anything your heart desires. Goes well with green veggies :) We had it with Julia's frozen peas in butter sauce, and one of her vanilla cakes with strawberries for dessert! Best book club month ever!