I'm about to make this recipe and was wondering why would I flatten a beef tenderloin?

Thanks!

Do I add the garlic whole? Or do I chop it? I'm guessing to add it whole.

Thanks!

In step 3 it does mention to emince the garlic. Flattening the steaks tenderizes them a bit and also helps them to cook quicker. But honestly it's not my recipe it's Gordon Ramsay's :-) Enjoy dinner!

I'm talking about step 5.

The garlic in step 3 is for the pan sauce, in step 5 is for the potatoes and in step 5 it only says to "press the garlic" to get the skin off but then, nothing about what shape it's supposed to be when it gets into the pan with the potatoes.

I just winged it and chopped it large.

Figuring out all the ingredients for this was a bit challenging because there are three dishes. But paragraph 5 is the only one I found that was unclear.

This entire dish came out perfect. Great flavors all around. Will make again.

The only thing I added was my roasted veal stock reduced to a demi glace.

I love it when I can get these recipes for the entire dinner so I don't have to think about what goes with what.

The steak was divine, the potatoes were amazing, crunchy on top and added a bit of the sauce and some cold sour cream, yum!

The peas-used to hate them! But I've found if you don't over cook them they don't end up tasting like baby food mush.

I found if I thaw them first by tossing them into a water filled bowl, then boil some water and blanch them for about 30-60 seconds, then toss them with the butter and get to the table quickly, they come out perfect. In fact all my frozen veggies come out perfect these days using this method. Rouxbe may have a lesson on this somewhere.

Thanks for posting this recipe, Rouxbe. I thought it was yours, but now I'm interested in seeing what else Gordon has up his sleeve.

Cheers!

Rouxbe does have a lesson on blanching veggies, what I meant was a lesson on how to handle blanching frozen veggies.

Thanks!

Here is the link to the topic called "Cooking Frozen Vegetables" from the Cooking Vegetable in Water Lesson. Cheers!

Good morning, Dawn!

Thanks for the link. Glad to see you addressed this, nice to know about the freshness, good info! I watched the lesson a while back and didn't remember the frozen part of it.

I used to fix them this way, but I'm too scattered brained to watch them closely enough for done-ness. I usually end up over cooking them this way, especially broccoli.

Thanks for all your help!

Not sure why one would not use an iron skillet for the steaks where one gets a wonderful sear. I've always found iron skillets superior for this purpose.

This was just wonderful! The only change I made was to add a tad more dijon mustard for a little extra bite.

Great instructions and couldn't have been better!
Thanks once again:)

Glad you enjoyed it. Now I want it for dinner :-)

I don't keep brandy around. Any suggestions for substitutions?

Here is a site that you might want to bookmark that offers substitution suggestions for a variety of foods/liquids. It might be worthwhile to pick up a bottle of brandy though as this dish is delicious with it. Plus if you only cook with it, it'll last a long time. Bourbon or scotch could work but the flavor will be different and might be a bit overpowering. Whatever you choose, it just needs a high alcohol content in order to flambe. Cheers!

Forgot the peas so I made Arugala salad (w/sautéed shallots,mushrooms, goat cheese. Recipe on Trader Joe's wild Arugala bag)
Glad I did because the Diane sauce was so rich I felt a better choice than sweet peas.
Everything came out fantastic especially cause I didn't melt plastic light covers off my beautiful Best glass hood on my first flambé :-)