It's Yummy To Be French.

I love French onion soup but since we are on a diet I can’t have the toasted bread and cheese all over the soup so I decided to take the delicious soup, condense it and serve it with some beef. David was really hesitant about this dish because he realized the recipe probably doesn’t actually exist—that’s what I loved so much about it. I will make history by creating my own recipe and soon Paula Deen will be using my recipes on her show =) that’s the plan at least! This seems like a long and tedious recipe but it’s really pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Everyone that ate it, LOVED it. The beef was so tender and juicy and a small piece of beef really filled you up, even though you wish you had room to have some more. If you have any questions about the beef preparation please let me know as it might sound a little confusing at first. Also, if you are aren't carb-phobic definitely toast some French bread, rub some garlic on it, and melt some cheese in the oven and serve it side by side--it will really seal the deal on this dish!

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French Onion Beef Tenderloin

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 ½ hours
Serves: 4 People

Ingredients:

1-1 ½ pound of beef tenderloin (if you can’t find this, look for a clean round piece of beef that is almost fat free and a nice bright red color or a flat long piece of beef that you can roll up)
1/3 cup of dried rosemary, plus a little more to sprinkle on
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus more for frying the garlic and to drizzle over tomatoes
18 cloves of garlic: 12 for beef, 4 for onions, and 2 for tomatoes
2 large white onions thinly sliced.
½ stick of butter
3 cups of beef broth
1 cup of dry white wine
4 vine tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking string

Directions:

Take the beef and cut it half way down the middle and across to create an opening in the meat. It should look like a flat thinner piece of beef. Drizzle ½ of the 1/3 cup with olive oil, sprinkle ½ of the 1/3 cup with rosemary, and mince 6 garlic cloves and spread into the meat. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt and pepper and rub it in. Roll the meat up and tie the meat with the cooking string. It does not have to be any fancy way just make sure you tie it a few times creating secure knots so it does not roll open. Take the 6 other cloves of garlic and cut in half. Poke holes into the meat and press the half of the garlic into the holes. Do this for all of the remaining pieces in even locations on the meet. Drizzle the meat with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle the reaming rosemary; a few pinches of salt and pepper all over the beef (do not forget the bottom). In a deep skillet, heat some olive oil (a few turns of the pan) till it is very hot. Place the meat and sear it. By searing I mean, leave the meat to brown well so it looks like its burnt. It creates a nice crust. Do not worry about the black bit, that’s a good thing—the entire flavor is packed in these burnt bits. Sear all sides of the meat and the sides. Hold the opening sides in place while they sear. Each side should take 4-5 minutes. Once each piece is nicely seared remove the meat to a plate. The meat will not be fully cooked, that’s okay. It will finish cooking in the onion “soup”.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the top rack all the way to the top and the second rack all the way at the bottom.

Melt the butter in the same pan. With a wooden spoon scrub all the burnt pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the 4 garlic cloves minced to the butter and cook a little. Do not let them burn (about 2 minutes). Take the sliced onions and put them in the pan. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt and pepper all over the onions. Turn them a few times to coat them with the butter. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, till the onions have settled and are nice and limp. Add the cup of dry white wine. Let the wine simmer with the onions for about 5 minutes. With a thong constantly toss the onions around making sure they are fully marinating in the wine. Once the liquid comes to a nice simmer, add the beef stock. Allow this to simmer, occasionally stirring. After 10 minutes, place the beef back into mixture. Put the beef into the oven. Every 15-20 minutes, go into the oven and flip the beef to another side. You can also pour the onions over the beef. The beef will most likely not be covered with the onion soup, and that’s okay.

Cook this for at least an hour and a half, but you can cook it up to 3 hours. The more you cook it the softer the meat will come out. However if you are going to cook it longer you should reduce to the heat to about 350 degrees.

Take the tomatoes and slice them in half. Mix the olive oil, minced garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper and a pinch of rosemary together and brush the cut open sides of the tomatoes with them. Bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes, until tender.

Bon Appetite!