Filet of Venison (or Beef) with Gorgonzola Sauce

While flipping through yet another of my library copies of Ina Garten’s cookbooks, I came across this recipe for beef filet and gorgonzola sauce and thought “wow, that looks good”. But we very rarely buy beef steaks. Rarely as in never. I don’t think I’ve ever once made a steak at home that wasn’t venison.

Then it occured to me! Make it with venison! Oh my word. I’m so glad we did. The way we prepared the meat left it so unbelievably tender and juicy. You could, quite literally, cut it with a fork or butter knife.

The gorgonzola sauce just was the icing on the cake. What a perfect combination! Better still, it was AMAZING left over the next day.

Venison Filet
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Ingredients:
4-5 lbs beef or venison filet (we used 1.5 lb back strap filets of venison)
2 T. unsalted butter at room temperature
1 T. kosher salt
1 T. coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 500° (since we were using smaller, thinner steaks, and a lesser amount we only did 450°).

Pat the meat dry with a paper towel, then spread the butter onto the meat with your hands. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Roast for 22 minutes (or in our case 20 minutes). We used a meat thermometer and roasted until it reached medium-well temps, about 160° in the center.

Remove from the oven and cover with aluminum foil and set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.

Gorgonzola Sauce
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Ingredients:
4 C heavy cream
3-4 oz crumbly Gorgonzola
3 T. freshly grated parmesan cheese (I was a bit more heavy-handed and didn’t measure it out perfectly)
¾ t. kosher salt
¾ t. freshly ground black pepper
3 T. minced fresh parsley

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, bring the heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Watch it carefully as it tends to want to boil over and go everywhere. Trust me on this. Keep at a rapid boil for 45-50 minutes until it’s thickened considerably. It should be similar to the consistency of alfredo sauce.

Remove the cream from the heat and mix in the remaining ingredients, whisking everything together until the cheese has melted.

Slice the meat and spoon the sauce over the meat. Serve.

Both recipe sources: Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten