Dinner for 1: Olive Oil Poached Filet, Cherry Wine Reduction

My loving pescatarian wife went out for the evening, so I was left to cook for my carnivorous self. Meat was certain to be on the menu and, since I had no one to please but myself, I decided it was time to experiment with a new technique. If it failed, I could always order a sausage pizza.

Poaching in olive oil is my favorite preparation for seafood for two reasons: (1) it is very forgiving, as overcooking at low poaching temperatures is almost impossible; and (2) good extra virgin olive oil imparts a terrific grassy, fruity and rich flavor to the fish. With a delicate cut of beef like tenderloin, I supposed that the method might work just as well.

I started by flash-searing the meat in a super hot pan. No more than 30 seconds per side. Probably more like 25. Then I placed the hunk of meat, a dozen or so peeled garlic cloves, and a few small red potatoes in a small saucepan, and covered it with an extra virgin olive oil that I quite like for the price:

Start of the poach:



At the same time, I placed maybe a half cup of pitted sour cherries, their juice, and maybe a cup and a half of rioja in another saucepan. Added some tarragon, cranked up the heat, and started what ended up being about a one hour reducing process, until almost all of the liquid was gone, and what was left was intense and syrupy. Then I seasoned with salt and pepper.

Reduction getting started:



I tried my best to keep the oil at about 145 degrees. Without dansch's fancy immersion circulator, this meant a lot of pulling it on and off the heat. A little fluctuation doesn't bother me, but if the heat got up to 170 or so, I feared that might ruin my expensive beef. At 135-145 degrees, it is literally impossible to overcook it. I suspect that it might have been even better if I let it cook all night, but I was hungry after 45 minutes, so I plated it. The garlic and potatoes weren't quite soft enough for me, so I removed the meat, cranked up the heat and let those guys simmer in hot oil for about 5 more minutes. A little cherry/wine reduction smeared on the plate, then the filet on top of that, the potatoes and garlic scattered around, and some of the cooked cherries strewn on top.

Oil Poached Filet, Potatoes and Garlic With Cherry-Rioja Reduction:



I would have loved to do a side by side comparison of this filet with one cooked using sear and blast, or some other more common method. Then I'd have more empirical evidence for my belief that this was the best damned way of cooking a filet I'd ever tried. Rich, tender, and full of flavor. The cherry wine reduction added just the right acid bite, and who ever complained about whole garlic cloves poached in olive oil?

Filet, Sliced:



Poaching in olive oil. I think I'm hooked.

Beautifully done, Chef Z. I know you have those nice small-radius deep pots for poaching so you can minimize the volume of oil used (and which are perfect for a portion for one or two) - need to get one of those. Still, there must be a lot of perfectly good, flavored olive oil left after the poach, and with beef I imagine the leftover oil has more applications than if fish was poached. What can / do you do with the remaining oil?

With fish, there is really no use for the poaching oil besides poaching more fish. The oil will keep for about 3 days, and I usually make sure I get at least 2 poaches out of it. With today's oil, which is predominantly garlic flavored, with perhaps a touch of beef, I'll be using it as a dip for bread, a salad dressing, and for whenever I need to sweat onions/ garlic/ shallots/ etc. If I make some pasta, I'll use the oil and some crushed red pepper as a sauce.

That looks simply amazing. I've poached a bunch of things over the years, but never in oil. This makes it look almost irresistable.

Gorgeous. Can't wait to try.
Would you share the name of the oil you "like for the price?"
Question: given that the poaching is so low temp., would I be correct in assuming that one could happily use a very good oil for this process and benefit from its particular flavor, as opposed to a higher heat method with which you would never use an excellent oil?

Kennyz wrote:Poaching in olive oil. I think I'm hooked.

Kenny,

Fillet looks terrific, will have to pick up sour cherries and try the sour cherry/rioja/tarragon sauce.

Best poached I've had was a few years ago at Bob in Georgia's. Big Jim, a BBQ man of some note, slow poached straight from the chickens tush eggs in freshly rendered lard. Large cast iron pan on the top of an off-set smoker firebox, the eggs chuckled away for 15-20 minutes to runny yolk center. Served with fresh made biscuits most of us had 4-5, Bob an even dozen.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Bob an even dozen.

Bob is an impressive guy.

G Wiv wrote:will have to pick up sour cherries and try the sour cherry/rioja/tarragon sauce.

did it again tonight, this time dinner for 7 instead of one. This go round I added the soaking liquid from a bag of dried porcinis (soaked a few hours in what started as boiling water, then strained through a coffee filter) and reduced that down with the rest. It added a terrific earthy element to balance the tasty sour/ sweet sauce. Highly recommdended.

Santander wrote:Still, there must be a lot of perfectly good, flavored olive oil left after the poach, and with beef I imagine the leftover oil has more applications than if fish was poached. What can / do you do with the remaining oil?

I ended up using a good amount of the garlicky oil to roast some cherry tomatoes...

Oil being poured over tomatoes:



As they roast, the tomatoes start to infuse the oil, and an intoxicating tomato-garlic-oil perfumes the house.

Tomatoes roasting:



Once roasted, the tomatoes are intensely sweet, and the liquid is syrupy and loaded with flavor

After roasting:



The tomatoes and their roasting syrup then got wrapped in foil packets atop fresh, meaty pieces of swordfish, which was then baked for 15-20 minutes. The swordfish was then shredded and mixed with everything else to form a pasta sauce for homemade fettuccine.

Swordfish packet ready to bake:



No picture of the pasta, but it was my attempt to replicate a dish we had on our honeymoon at a little trattoria in Venice. Immodest consensus was that my version was at least as good.


Tagliata di pesce spada at a trattoria in Venice:

update: forgot to take a picture of the completed pasta di pesce spada yesterday, but here's a picture of the cold leftovers I just had for brekfast:

Swordfish fettucine:

Kennyz wrote:The tomatoes and their roasting syrup then got wrapped in foil packets atop fresh, meaty pieces of swordfish, which was then baked for 15-20 minutes. The swordfish was then shredded and mixed with everything else to form a pasta sauce for homemade fettuccine.

I generally loathe baked fish, but this sounds like a use for it that I could finally get behind. Is that parsley on top?

gastro gnome wrote:

Kennyz wrote:The tomatoes and their roasting syrup then got wrapped in foil packets atop fresh, meaty pieces of swordfish, which was then baked for 15-20 minutes. The swordfish was then shredded and mixed with everything else to form a pasta sauce for homemade fettuccine.

I generally loathe baked fish, but this sounds like a use for it that I could finally get behind. Is that parsley on top?

yep, plain old Italian flat leaf parsley.

Gotta love roasted tomatoes - I halved and roasted all the tomatoes before I canned them last year. If you broil them, the skins char and come right off.

I used to do a similar dish with salmon, it's a beautiful thing.

For a dinner party, I poached elk (Hawks Hill Elk Ranch) and beef (Tallgrass) tenderloins in juniper infused olive oil. Seared them both first, then into oil that I kept between 130 and 140 degrees for about an hour.

Elk & Beef Tenderloins Poaching:



The result was beautifully tender meat that was a pretty medium-rare throughout.
Beef Tenderloin, Sliced



Served with cherry-wine reduction, which this time contained some powerful demi glace and thyme instead of tarragon.
Elk (front) and beef (back) with cherry-wine reduction:



I'm still a big fan of this technique, even if it is rather expensive. Sure, an immersion circulator might do as good a job with less waste and less need for constant attention. But that kind of cooking is no fun for a guy like me, for whom seeing, smelling and touching the food is what cooking's all about. Tightly-sealed ziploc bags left alone while buried underwater do little to excite the senses.

wow....
that beef and elk look excellent. nice job Kenny.

Kennyz wrote:For a dinner party, I poached elk (Hawks Hill Elk Ranch) and beef (Tallgrass) tenderloins in juniper infused olive oil. Seared them both first, then into oil that I kept between 130 and 140 degrees for about an hour.

Kenny, I love beef tenderloin and I typically sear it first and then finish it in the oven. But I'm very curious about this poaching method. Please tell me more - how did the poaching itself affect the flavor and tenderness? Oily at all?

BR wrote:

Kennyz wrote:For a dinner party, I poached elk (Hawks Hill Elk Ranch) and beef (Tallgrass) tenderloins in juniper infused olive oil. Seared them both first, then into oil that I kept between 130 and 140 degrees for about an hour.

Kenny, I love beef tenderloin and I typically sear it first and then finish it in the oven. But I'm very curious about this poaching method. Please tell me more - how did the poaching itself affect the flavor and tenderness? Oily at all?

I wouldn't call it oily, but I use pretty good extra virgin olive oil, and the meat definitely picks up that nice, grassy flavor. Another advantage of cooking this way vs. the oven is that you can keep the temperature lower. Cooking at a consistent 130 to 140 means that there is greater uniformity in doneness, and it will just about enver get beyond medium rare. Tenderloin is not actually a favorite cut of mine, but I think it lends itself well to the olive oil poach.

Kennyz wrote:

BR wrote:

Kennyz wrote:For a dinner party, I poached elk (Hawks Hill Elk Ranch) and beef (Tallgrass) tenderloins in juniper infused olive oil. Seared them both first, then into oil that I kept between 130 and 140 degrees for about an hour.

Kenny, I love beef tenderloin and I typically sear it first and then finish it in the oven. But I'm very curious about this poaching method. Please tell me more - how did the poaching itself affect the flavor and tenderness? Oily at all?

I wouldn't call it oily, but I use pretty good extra virgin olive oil, and the meat definitely picks up that nice, grassy flavor. Another advantage of cooking this way vs. the oven is that you can keep the temperature lower. Cooking at a consistent 130 to 140 means that there is greater uniformity in doneness, and it will just about enver get beyond medium rare. Tenderloin is not actually a favorite cut of mine, but I think it lends itself well to the olive oil poach.

The uniformity in doneness seems like a great benefit, and I can see where a nice olive oil would lend an interesting note. The interior color is just beautiful Kenny. And while I wouldn't order beef tenderloin at a fine steakhouse (I much prefer a heavily marbled chunk grilled with just salt and pepper), I enjoy cooking it at home where I can match it with bold sauces.

Kennyz wrote: Cooking at a consistent 130 to 140 means that there is greater uniformity in doneness...

Is this the temp you use to poach seafood?

I've always grilled my octopus (after marinating). Last night at a restaurant had octopus poached in olive oil and it was tremendous.