FILET MIGNON IN CHAMPAGNE SAUCE

Filet mignon in a champagne sauce is a dish my mother used to make on special occasions. I’d watched her make it many times, and after I got married, I made it also. I never used a recipe. Observing Mom was enough for me, and the method was easy to remember without resorting to a recipe. But for some reason, I hadn’t made it in several years. Maybe because it’s on the rich side and calorie-laden, or it could be simply that other favorites replaced this one.

When my mom passed away, my dad gave me a box with my mother’s handwritten recipes and her “cooking bible” – The Tselementes. This food-splattered, masking-taped repaired cookbook is a treasure. This was my mom’s go-to book for anything she needed to refer to. She brought this cookbook with her when she came to this country in 1953, and I think it was the ONLY cookbook I ever saw her open.

Mom never cooked with recipes. She instinctively knew what to add to her food and how long it needed to cook. This is how I learned to cook. She would hover over the stove, turn to me, breathing in the aroma and say, “You never rush your food. You must love it. Hug it and kiss it.” That is the secret ingredient to deliciousness! 

So when I looked in the box with the handwritten recipes, I was not surprised to find lists of ingredients with no measurements! I remembered what was in the champagne sauce, but I wanted to refresh my memory of each ingredient’s amount. But I soon discovered her recipe cards held no amounts. She cooked by feel. Recipe after recipe was written in the same manner—a list of ingredients, the method, but no measurements.

Here is the recipe I came up with based on her ingredients and my measurements.

4 1-inch thick filet mignon steaks

8 large stuffing mushrooms, whole. Stems off

3 shallots, sliced

5 tablespoons butter

½ cup champagne

1 cup heavy cream

Salt & pepper to taste

Sprinkle meat with salt & pepper. Melt four tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and pan-fry the steaks on both sides until cooked to your preference. Flip the meat to the other side. Add the shallots and mushrooms. When the steaks are done, remove from heat and set aside on a platter. Cover to keep warm. Place the cooked mushrooms on the platter with the steaks. 

Add the champagne to the pan and bring to a boil. Add the heavy cream. Lower the heat and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir the last tablespoon of butter into the sauce. Add the steaks and mushrooms back into the pan. To serve, pour the sauce over steaks and garnish with two mushrooms.