Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin Dinner

Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin

February always seems like a good time to have a dinner party with friends so we all can bring some sharing of warmth of friendship, smiles, laughter, and an overall good time to help bring us closer to Spring.  One couple brought the amazing appetizers (shrimp cocktail and stuffed mushrooms) Bob and I made a simple arugula salad with lemon and the beef tenderloin, and another couple brought the awesome chocolate raspberry cake and chocolate wine for dessert.  Of course, there was plenty of wine to go around as well.

I had made this same bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin for a dinner recently so I had some practice.  I had already forgotten what temperature I had cooked it at so I decided this time I'd write it down if it came out great - which it did!  The timing is usually the hardest part of cooking for me.  I vowed to just relax, cook the meal with a loose timing schedule and we'd all have a great time.   

Earlier that day I had prepped the beef tenderloin.  The butcher had cut and trimmed two half loins about 3 lbs each.  We kept the tenderloin piece on the side, rubbed the roast with the rosemary/garlic mixture, wrapped it in bacon, and tied it up with butcher's twine.  This recipe is as simple as it gets and it came out perfect!

First,  puree a mixture of fresh rosemary, garlic, olive oil, and Kosher salt for seasoning and rub it all over the roast.  

Some beautiful fresh Rosemary for seasoning the roast and to use with the fingerling potatoes.

Place strips of bacon down on wax paper with alternating pre-cut pieces of butcher's twine to be able to tie up the roast and the bacon.  

 

Place the seasoned roast on the bacon and pull the strips of bacon over the roast and tie each twine piece to secure the bacon and hold the tenderloin together nicely.  You may have an easier way to do this but it worked fine using this method. 

 Here's how it looked after the bacon was wrapped and tied over the roast.  I prepped this in the morning and left in the refrigerator until about 3PM and removed to the counter to rest before cooking.   The roast went into the oven at 4:30 PM at 375 degrees F and removed it when it reached 125 degrees - about 90 minutes.  Your oven may vary... just keep an eye on it!  Tent it with aluminum foil until ready to cut and serve.  Luckily we all wanted it cooked rare/med rare so it was better to undercook it.  If you need it cooked more then you can cook it more if need be.

The final cooked rested beef.

A nice side of fingerling potatoes cut and tossed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt and some fresh rosemary, baked until crispy on the bottom.  

A little lighting for ambience, a small amount of cheese and crackers and wine to start...  then the shrimp cocktail and fabulous perfectly mildly, silky, cheesy stuffed mushrooms.   Following the appetizers was a small tart fresh arugula salad with sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and tossed only with fresh squeezed lemon.

Yes, we did eat all of that and had room for the awesome chocolaty goodness for dessert.

The fabulous chocolate cake with a raspberry filling and topped with fresh raspberries and served with chocolate covered almonds AND Chocolate Essence wine from the Taylor Brooke Winery in CT for dessert!  Can we say Devine?  

It was a fabulous night forging new friendships with stimulating conversation, laughter and smiles, and a meal to remember.