Gorgonzola Beef Tenderloin with Pasta
Tommy and I got a 30-minute meal cookbook for Christmas, so I have been browsing through the pages looking for some new ideas for dinner. The recipe that caught my eye was for a beef tenderloin as well as some penne with a quick tomato sauce to serve alongside the beef. The cookbook instructions were well laid and took advantage of every second of the process. I followed the directions and had the meal from grocery bags to plates on the table in 40 minutes. I didn’t think that was too bad. However, the kitchen was a mess when the meal was done. I like to clean stuff as I go along, but there was no time for that. The Gorgonzola mixture was a little too much and had to be scraped off of the beef when we ate it. I thought that there was a perfect amount of Gorgonzola taste once all of it was scraped off, because some of it made its way down into the beef. It was a nice alternative way to serve a piece of meat. I liked the pasta because it was a simple pasta with a simple sauce, but with a few greens added to it. The original recipe called for arugula but we had baby spinach so that is what we used. I liked it just fine with the spinach, but I can see how peppery arugula would give the pasta a bit more flavor and also be delicious.
Gorgonzola Beef Tenderloin with Pasta
Serves 2 (with a little bit of left over)
Ingredients
1/2 lb penne pasta
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Olive Oil
Salt + Pepper
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
Parsley (small handful), chopped
6 Sage Leaves, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 beef tenderloins, about 1-inch thick
1 cup baby spinach
10 basil leaves, pulled apart into pieces
1/2 cup grated parm. regianno cheese
3/4 cup reserved pasta water
Preparation
1. Set oven to 425 degrees.
2. Boil water and cook pasta 2 minutes shy of being al dente (pasta will cook more later)
3. Meanwhile, put tomatoes and garlic in oven for 20 minutes.
4. Salt and pepper both sides of beef.
5. Combine Gorgonzola, parsley, sage and green onion in a small bowl and set aside.
6. When tomatoes/garlic are about 4 minutes from being done, heat an oven-proof skillet on high heat. Sear the beef for 90 seconds on each side. Keep beef in pan and put Gorgonzola mixture on top.
7. Take tomatoes out of oven, turn oven off, and transfer pan of beef to the oven for 4 minutes.
8. Put the roasted garlic in a bowl large enough for the pasta and mash to make a paste. Add the reserved pasta water and the tomatoes and mash until a sauce forms. Add the pasta, spinach, basil, and cheese and let sit for a few minutes.
9. Serve!