filet mignon on a bed of shallots with mushroom/pear mashed potatoes -

after I went this morning for a relaxing walk down the Davis Arboretum and wishing that the weather would improve and not be that cold anymore. I actually really like this walk and should do it more often, maybe I even get lucky and they will finish the repairs at the north pond soon.

a cold foggy davis morning

 I decided that I want to treat me to a nice lunch, before working on my talk. So while being at trader Joes, I realized that filet mignon was on sale and I hadn't had this in quite a long time.

So I think let's give this a quick try, just to remember 5 minutes into slicing shallots, how much I dislike doing this. They are just to tiny and you need to work a lot for a subtle improve in flavor compared to red onions.

a lot of shallot's need to be sliced for this dish

The second thing I forgot is that this dish is a multi step procedure and requires a lot of different pans. I really haven't done it in a long time and think I won't do it anytime soon again. There are other dishes to be made!

filet's getting seared in the pan

The shallots are on the other hand incredible easy to make. You just put them into a roasting dish and cover them with a bit melted butter. While the steaks are roasting, they release some juices which soak into the shallots.

ready to go into the oven

The end result was like always incredible tasty and it only took 45 minutes to prepare and about 4 minutes to eat and now I'm thinking what to make as desert.

the dish before it magically disappears.