FILET MIGNON IN SOUR CHERRY SAUCE - LUNGIC/BIFTEK U UMAKU S VISNJAMA

Place of origin: Our recipe

Every autumn I end up with a lot of sour cherries that were used for making our own homemade cherry brandy. They're usually used in different cakes that I like to call "drunken cakes" as cherries contain some amount of alcohol. :-) This year I wanted to try something new so I thought of a sour cherry sauce. I've looked up a recipe on the internet, found several ones but none was exactly to my liking so I combined them all and adjusted the taste along the way as I didn't like the original result. It turned out pretty well and we liked it a lot. Have made it later with "normal" cherries from the can so using "drunken" cherries is not necessary. ;-) :-D

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

250-300 g tenderloin (pork or beef)

3 tbsp brandy + 1 tbsp olive oil for marinating the meat

15 g butter

100 g sour cherries (fresh, frozen or canned; pitted)

100 ml red wine

25 ml brandy

50 ml cherry juice (from draining canned cherries or regular cherry juice or any cherry liqueur)

100 ml water

1 full teaspoon honey

1 tbsp cherry or cranberry jam

1 tsp (not full) corn starch dissolved in 50 ml water

salt

1. cut the tenderloin into 2 cm thick steaks.
2. marinate filet mignon for couple of hours in brandy and olive oil (you can skip this step if you don’t have the time).
3. in a deep frying pan or wok melt the butter and fry the meat for about 2 minutes on each side, sprinkle with salt (a pinch or two should be enough - be careful as too much salt is not good in this sweet sauce!).
4. pour in the wine and brandy, simmer for couple of minutes.
5. add water, cherries and cherry juice.
6. cover and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes (turn filets after 5 minutes if the sauce is not covering them completely).
7. add honey and cherry or cranberry jam.
8. simmer for couple of minutes for honey and jam to dissolve completely.
9. add corn starch and simmer till the sauce thickens – it it’s too thick, add a bit more water to get the thickness of your liking.
10. serve with rice, gnocchi, potato croquettes, short pasta or even bread dumplings.

HINT: it goes well with Merlot, Cabernet sauvignon or Pinot noir

LUNGIĆ/BIFTEK U UMAKU S VIŠNJAMA

Svaku jesen završim s hrpom višnji koje mi ostanu nakon što napravimo domaći višnjevac. Obično ih iskoristim u raznim kolačima koje zovem "pijani kolači" s obzirom da u višnjama ima alkohola. :-) Ove godine sam htjela probati nešto novo i tako sam se sjetila umaka s višnjama. Potražila sam recept na internetu, i našla ih nekoliko, no niti jedan mi baš nije u potpunosti "sjeo" pa sam ih sve iskombinirala i još prilagodila okus "putem" jer mi rezultat nije bio po volji. Na kraju je ispalo jako fino i prilično nam se svidjelo. Kasnije sam radila i s "običnim" višnjama iz kompota tako da ne trebate imati "pijane" višnje. ;-) :-D

SASTOJCI  (za 2 osobe)

250-300 g lungića ili bifteka

3 žlice brandyja + 1 žlica maslinovog ulja za marinadu

15 g maslaca

100 g višnja (svježih, smrznutih ili iz kompota – bez koštica)

100 ml crvenog vina

25 ml brandyja

50 ml soka višnje (koji vam je ostao kad ste ocijedili višnje iz kompota, ili običan sok višnje iz boce/tetrapaka, ili liker od višnje)

100 ml vode

1 puna žlica meda

1 žlica džema od višnje ili brusnice

1 čajna žličica (ne vrhom puna) gustina otopiti u 50 ml vode

sol

1. narežite meso na odreske debljine oko 2 cm
2. marinirajte meso par sati u brandyju I maslinovom ulju (ovaj korak možete marinate preskočiti ako nemate vremena, ali će meso biti ukusnije nakon mariniranja)
3. u dubokoj tavi ili woku otopite maslac te prepržite meso oko 2 minute sa svake strane (okrenite samo jefnom!), posolite (prstohvat-dva bi trebalo biti dovoljno jer se previše soli ne slaže s ovim slatkastim jelom).
4. dodajte vino i brandy te krčkajte par minuta
5. dodajte vodu, višnje i sok ili liker
6. poklopite i pirjajte na srednje laganoj vatri oko 10 minuta (nakon 5 minuta okrenite odreske ako ih imak u potpunosti ne pokriva).
7. dodajte med i džem.
8. kuhajte par minuta dok se med I džem potpuno ne otope.
9. dodajte otopljeni gustin I kuhajte još par minuta dok se umak ne zgusne – ako je pregust, dodajte još malo vode dok ne dobijete gustoću prema vašem ukusu.
10. poslužite uz rižu, njoke, krokete od krumpira, kratkom tjesteninom ili čak s okruglicama od kruha.

SAVJET: dobro se slaže s Merlotom, Cabernet Sauvignonom ili Crnim Pinotom.

Recipe by Linda