Beef Tenderloin with Pancetta and Mushroom Marsala Sauce

Fairly light, but this ain't diet food kids: it's still Beef with Pancetta and cream. That's why it tastes so good. This is pretty easy cooking, but it looks - and tastes - like hours slaving over a hot stove.

Yield:
8 servings
Category:
Beef
Cuisine:
American

INGREDIENTS:

  • For the Beef:
  • 1 whole Beef tenderloin (from Freybes on Hastings) to be portioned into eight
  • 1/2 pound pancetta, sliced as thin as the counter-person will slice it
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 tablespoon coarse-ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • For the Sauce:
  • 1 medium onion, sliced thin
  • 1/2 pound mixed mushrooms (whatever appeals to your palate and won't endanger your net worth), cleaned and cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Marsala wine
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Place the tenderloin on the cutting board. Lay a row of pancetta rounds, overlapping, on the cutting board along the length of the tenderloin. Put another two behind that, and another behind that, so that there is a layer big enough to wrap the loin. (You will probably need about 9 rounds). Sprinkle the pancetta with the thyme and the black pepper. Place the tenderloin on top of the pancetta slices. Roll the loin in the pancetta, using your fingers to press the pancetta against the beef so that is is wrapped well. Your should have enough pancetta to wrap the loin all the way around; the pancetta pieces will stick to one another as they wrap around. If this is not happening for you, tie the whole thing around with butcher's string.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat until it is smoking. Add the pancetta-wrapped tenderloin and cook, rotating and turning periodically, until the meat is browned on all sides, a

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