Italian Style Steak

Steak and mushrooms are a match made in heaven!

Ingredients

2 (4 ounces each) beef tenderloin steaks (about 2 inches thick)
1 package dried mushrooms
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed and stems discarded
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (you can use regular button mushrooms if you prefer)
1 cracked garlic clove
¼ cup red wine (or you can substitute broth for the wine)
¼ cup broth

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Take the tenderloins out of the refrigerator and let come up to room temperature for about 10 minutes.

In a mini food processor or coffee grinder, grind up the dried mushrooms. Add the rosemary, some salt and freshly ground black pepper to the processor and pulse again until everything is ground up and combined. Rub both sides of the steak with the mushroom-rosemary rub.

Spray a medium-size cast iron skillet with Pam and put on the stove over high heat. When the pan is screaming hot, add the steaks and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Once the steaks are seared, transfer them to a small baking sheet.

Transfer the steaks to the oven to finish cooking- about 5 minutes for a medium steak.

When the steaks have finished cooking, remove them from the oven and cover them with foil to rest for about 5 minutes.

To the same cast iron skillet the steaks were cooked in, add the cremini mushrooms and cracked garlic clove and cook over medium-high heat until the mushrooms are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and broth to the pan and remove from the heat- the residual heat of the pan will reduce the sauce slightly. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve each person one tenderloin steak with a large scoop of mushrooms on top. Don't forget to take out the cracked garlic clove.

Makes 2 servings

Exchanges: 1 serving = 3 protein/ Group 6

Adapted from a recipe written by Rachel Ray from the Rachel Ray Show