Filet Mignon with Blue Cheese-Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce – juicy, tender Filet Mignon topped with a dreamy sauce filled with warm, caramelized onions and crumbly blue cheese, served over crisp roasted asparagus and velvety potato puree.
Alright guys. Time to look away if you’re on a diet. Serious.
Moving along! So this was a dish concept that I created out of necessity for food competition auditions – I was trying to think up an unbeatable dish, a perfect dish! That’s why there’s steak, caramelized onions, blue cheese, and looooots of heavy cream and butter. Bringing out the big guns is what I like to call it.
Now, as some of you may know, I actually don’t eat meat. No chicken, pork, or beef please. Anyways, since I couldn’t try it I enlisted the help of my father, who happily obliged. And I’ll have you know he scraped his plate clean. Like “I didn’t even need to wash it” kind of clean. And that’s how I knew I had a home run.
And! I did try each of the components and had the exact same dish as my dad, but I had some salmon in place of the steak, and yum. I didn’t think seafood and blue cheese cream sauce would work, but let’s just say I struggled through. And those potatoes?? VELVET. The magic of half-and-half, my friends. And butter. Yum.
I will admit, there are a few components to this dish (4 to be exact). I know, I know! But it’s worth it, and when everything comes together it’s just so harmonious, velvety, creamy, juicy, crunchy – everythang. However, I have hours available to cook everyday (Homework? What?), but really this isn’t too out of the realm of possibility – if you’re well-paced in the kitchen, this might take you an hour-ish for everything? Not too bad right?
Okay, I’m rambling. Long story short – feel free to use an combination (or even one!) of these components – the steak by itself topped with the gravy, or just the potatoes topped with the steak, or even just the roasted asparagus! It was actually my first time roasting asparagus and now I know why I love roasting vegetables – it just makes them taste so good!
Okay, back to the actual cooking process! Now, you’ll want to make the potatoes and have those going first – very simple; just peel and dice some potatoes, throw them in a pot, top with some water that goes a couple inches above the potatoes, generously salt, bring to a boil, then we’re going to simmer them until they’re fork tender and mash them with some butter and half-and-half. (Yum)
Next thing we’re going to do is make the gravy. Now, the gravy is only 4 ingredients – butter, onions, heavy cream (!), and blue cheese. You’re just going to melt some butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, throw in your onions and cook until they’re nice and caramelized and golden brown. Then we’re going to pour in some heavy cream (Hey, stop looking at me like that – I know), and then we’re going to use our spoon to scrape up the little bits of caramelized onion stuck to the bottom of the pan, and the sauce is going to turn this glorious golden brown color. We’re just going to let it simmer for a couple minutes and just stare at it.
THEN, we’re going to add some blue cheese. Really, I’m sorry about this. Blame the Pioneer Woman. Even if you don’t think you like blue cheese. Add it. Believe me – nothing grosses me out like blue cheese. But I tried it, and can I just say, you would never know there’s blue cheese in there. It’s just creamy, rich, and just yum. Trust me.
Now, time for the asparagus. So simple – just toss some prepped asparagus with some olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper – toss them in the oven and bake them until they’re nice and crispy. Mine were pretty thin, so they didn’t take too long to cook.
Time for the steak. Before you cook it, you’re going to want to let it sit out for 30 minutes to an hour, just to let it come to room temperature – this will ensure that our meat cooks evenly. After that’s done, we’re going to generously season each side with salt and pepper; it’s going to help give us a really nice crust on the outside of our meat.
Now to cook it – we’re going to add some olive oil to a skillet (cast iron if you have it) over high heat. Once it’s nice and hot, add the steak – now, don’t touch it! Don’t move it, don’t peek underneath it, leave it. Letting it cook without messing with it is going to create a beautiful crust. We’re going to cook it for about 3 minutes, then we’re going to flip it and cook for another 3 minutes, without touching. Now, during the last couple minutes, we’re going to do something magical.
We’re going to add some fresh thyme along with a few pats of butter (PS – you see that crust??). Keep in mind, you could use rosemary as well, or even just butter by itself – now we’re just going to baste the steaks with the herb butter (baste just means to pour melted fat on/over meat while it’s cooking). Once our 3 minutes are up, we’re going to transfer the steak to a baking dish or sheet (or keep it in the skillet if it’s ovenproof) and bake in the oven until it reaches your desired level of doneness (I did medium-rare for my dad and baked for 5-6 minutes). You could also base your doneness based off the touch test – check this article out!
Now, after we take the steak/s out of the oven, a super important thing now is to let it rest. If you cut open that beautiful steak now, all of the juices are going to fly out, and then your steak will bleed all over your plate and will be dry.
Let it rest for at least 10 minutes, which you’ll need anyways to put the finishing touches on your other components.
Okay, all done! Now, to plate – just grab a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and place it in a circle on your plate. Top with some asparagus spears (I did 6 spears, 3 going in one direction and 3 going in the other) – then top with the rested steak, and lastly – the sauce!
Phew – all done. Not too tedious, right? Maybe not a weeknight dish, but it’s definitely doable! Making filet mignon for the first time was so much fun, and not very hard! If I can do it, you can do it!
Filet Mignon with Blue Cheese-Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Perfect Mashed Potatoes (I used all half-and-half for this recipe, feel free to use whole or 2% milk if you’d like)
12 asparagus spears
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup heavy cream (plus a few splashes if it gets too thick)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 (6 ounce) filet mignons, room temperature*
2 tablespoon olive oil
Fresh thyme (optional, but recommended)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix together to coat. Bake until tender but crisp, 20-25 minutes depending on thickness.
2. To make the sauce – melt two tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until dark golden brown and caramelized. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in the cream. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has reduced a little bit and to desired consistency. Stir in blue cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Let simmer until ready to plate.
3. To cook steaks – season each filet liberally on each side with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until the pan is very hot. Add the steaks and cook for about 3 minutes on the first side (do not touch during this time!). Flip over and cook for another 3 minutes. During the last few minutes of cooking, add 3 tablespoons of butter along with a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Baste the steaks with the herb butter.
4. Transfer to a baking sheet (or keep in the skillet if it is ovenproof) and bake until desired doneness, 5-6 minutes (or test with a thermometer, 130-135 for medium rare, 145 for medium).
5. Let the steak rest for at least 10-15 minutes before serving.
6. When ready to serve, portion the mashed potatoes into a circle on the place. Top with asparagus spears going in 2 opposing directions. Top with the filet, and then drizzle the sauce over the top of the filet. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Notes –
1. Feel free to use more asparagus spears of course, I just liked using 6 for each plate and decorating accordingly!
2. One of the things that I’ve learned from cooking, and especially from this dish in particular, is to make sure you season your food! I tasted the caramelized onion sauce with and without salt, and let me tell you – sprinkling a little salt into the sauce made the flavors stand to attention, and I was surprised by the dull flavor before the salt. Food doesn’t need to be salty – just taste your food and season accordingly, especially with the mashed potatoes as well.