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It's common to add wine or brandy to a sauce, but only in recent years are we learning what can be done with other aged spirits like Bourbon and Scotch. This is a great example of that, with the smoky flavor of the Scotch blending extraordinarily well with the beef. The dish was dreamed up by Tim Eihausen, the original chef at Nuvolari's. Neither he nor this dish are still there, but he showed me how to do it. I've cooked it many times since and added a few flavors I like.
- 4 medallions of beef tenderloin, 8 oz. each, butterflied
- Salt and pepper
- 1 Tbs. Worcestershire
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup Scotch whisky
- 2 Tbs. butter
- 1 tsp. chopped French shallots
- 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
- 1/2 cup demi-glace or highly-reduced beef stock (optional)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 8 sliced mushrooms
- 2 tsp. canned green peppercorns (not dried)
1. Salt and pepper the steaks. Heat a tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and pan-broil the steaks in it, about two minutes per side for medium rare. Remove and keep warm.
2. Lower the heat and add the Worcestershire, mustard, and Scotch to the skillet. Stir the bottom to release the little pieces of beef crust. If you know what you're doing, you can flame it. However, I recommend that you just bring it to a light boil and reduce it down to just about two tablespoons of liquid.
3. Add the shallots and tarragon. Saute until the shallots are tender.
4. Add demi-glace, cream, mushrooms, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil and reduce until appropriately thick. Nap the sauce over the steaks and serve immediately.
Serves four.