Spending eat: beef tenderloin

Yes, we are all in the midst of an economic "downturn" or a "recession" or whatever you want to call it, and we're all looking for ways to save, to stretch a buck and all those things.
Let's not overdo it. I'm serious about this. It's sort of like dieting: if you do it too rigorously, you will feel cheated, cheat on the diet, binge, and wind up worse off than you are. Trust Annalena on t his, and if you don't, ask the dietary authorities (whoever THEY are). Seriously, though, generally, the nutritionists I have spoken to say that when you diet, you have to allow yourself one "cheat day" a week. That's the only way to do it.
With food, in my opinion, it's the same way. But more. First of all, my gospel: BUY QUALITY INGREDIENTS. Last week, I had a good reminder of why this is so important. I made the same dish, twice. Once, I used supermarket ingredients, and the second time, stuff from the farmers' market. I cooked both dishes exactly the same way, in exactly the same pots.
People ate more of the supermarket dish, but that's because it didn't taste like anything. I think that's what happens: we eat so much of what we do, because we're not getting the sense of satisfaction from something truly flavorful. The farmers market dish cost about 40% more to cook, but people ate half of it. So, there were two meals there, or I could have bought half the food, etc, etc, etc.

What does any of this have to do with beef tenderloin. Uh, have you seen the price of the stuff? You could faint. BUT... there's a reason for it. When you cook beef tenderloin, there is NO waste. I was prepping one this weekend, and decided to leave the "silver skin" fat on it. When the thing was done cooking, it was gone. All melted into the beef. So there's no waste. And it is TENDER. (DUH. TENDERloin.). Honestly, taste wise, it is not my favorite piece of beef. I like other cuts more, but this one always seems to say to people "you're special." And this invokes Annalena's two rules on spending money: spend it on food, spend it on your friends, and spend it lavishly (Oh. I guess that's three. Oh well). There's a fourth one too, which is "if you have two dollars left, but two dolalrs worth of flowers." There are more rules too, now that I think about it. but not for here.

Anyway, back to the tenderloin. You usually buy this in a piece. If you CAN get a whole tenderloin, however, do so. You will probably get a price break, and you will have enough meat to feed an army. The one I cooked this weekend was 3 pounds, and it fed nine people, with a smattering of leftovers for a salad tonight. Confronted with the whole tenderloin, there is one thing you should do: tenderloins are not uniform in size. You will have a thicker end, and a thinner one. Cut the thing so that you have two pieces that are equal in thickness. That way, you don't wind up with a piece that is overcooked and leathery, or one that is undercooked and raw (although you could just throw that one to me, and I'll eat it).

The recipe I used is from Ina Garten. I used her specs, because as y'all know, I adore Ina. This time around though... having done it, I think I would have modified it, as I shall explain. But this is something you should make, at least once this summer. It is SO BLOODY EASY AND SO BLOODY GOOD. Here we go.

First, take your 2-3 pound tenderloin and put it to the side, while you preheat your oven to - ready for t his - 500 degrees. Yup, 500. All the way up. Dont argue, just do it. Then , mix together 1.5 teaspoons of salt and freshly ground pepper, and rub it all over the beef.

Put the beef on a cooking sheet, and put it in the oven. 22 minutes for rare, 25 minutes for medium rare (if you have people who don't agree on how they like it, cut the thing in half and take the first half out at 22, the second at 25).

When the meet is finished cooking, leave it to sit for fifteen minutes, and then slice it up.

You will swoon. You will not need a knife for this. You will feel like you are eating beef butter. And if you then go and cook the other one, you will have lovely sandwiches.

A cut of beef like this should need no adornment - HOWEVER, given the Italian predisposition for this, if you are going to spend upwards of 25 bucks a pound for this meat, I would suggest some sauteed, wild mushrooms on it. Or, a green sauce of fresh herbs, peppers, and a bit of vinegar. Some others will gild the lilly and add a flavored butter. Ultimately, however, this is best with the small amount of drippings that come off of it after it's rested.

Yes, it's an extravagance. But here's how you justify it: if you've been invited to someone's place for the weekend, offer to do the cooking. This will cost you less than a night's lodging at a good hotel, and you'll make everyone happy. It would probably be piggy to claim title to l eftovers, so offer to split them.