I must say that my favorite meat is definitely beef. It is healthy and very delicious and when cooked in a stew it is melting in the mouth. I have different ways of making beef stew; however, recently my friend that lives in the States sent me a recipe for tenderloin pot with chestnuts and I must say my whole family and I loved it. Since then we prepare it every Sunday and it is like a tradition now. Here is what you will need if you want to try it.
I prepare 5 portions of this meal as my family is of 4 but my husband always likes to have seconds. So the ingredients are: a kilogram of beef tenderloin, one lemon, black pepper, rosemary, one big onion, 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk, 50 ml of white wine (and one glass for me whilst cooking), 2-3 tbsp flour, 50 g butter, 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 150-200 grams of peeled chestnuts and 1 tbsp sugar. I like to prepare everything so it is handy when I start cooking as there is nothing worse than needing something and realizing you haven’t got it so you have to run to the shop.
I start by cutting the meat into small steaks and tendering them with a small kitchen hammer. I prepare the marinade by mixing lemon juice, black pepper and rosemary in a bowl and then put the steaks in the ready mixture and leave in the fridge for around 30 min so that all the flavors soak in the meat.
Next I heat up 2 tbsp of butter and olive oil in a big deep pan with a lid. Once the fat is hot, I start frying the steaks. I roll them in flour and fry both sides for around 2-3 min so that the meat is sealed on the outside. Once the meat is sealed, I remove it from the pan and in the same pan I add one tbsp of olive oil, butter and the white wine to stew the finely chopped onion and celery and the grated carrots until soft. Once the vegetables have become soft, I put the meat back into the pan and add 200-300 ml water to cover the meat and turn the heat to very low so that it stews slowly for about 40 minutes and twenty minutes before the time is up I add the peeled chestnuts to boil together with the stew. The garnish can be whatever you like – I prepare white rice that nicely blends with the taste of the tenderloin pot.
This type of meal does take a little longer to prepare but that is why I always do it on Sunday. It is a family tradition to gather around the table attracted by the lovely smell of the freshly cooked meal. Just a little note from me – in case you don’t like chestnuts, you can add any other type of nuts to the tenderloin pot at the very end.
Author bio: Teresa Jens is a busy mom, blogger and freelance writer. She left the business world back in 2009 to focus more on her family and blogging career. She speaks fluently English and Danish and that is why she agreed to start writing for Femina and their tenderloin pot recipes (also known in Danish as mørbradgryde opskrifter fra Femina).
