Prosciutto Wrapped Beef Tenderloin, Mushroom and Spinach Sauté and Polenta

This was, without the shadow of a doubt, one of the best dishes I tried in our kitchen. The ingredients themselves were great and the combo proved to be top notch quality. So, I’m going to take it step by step, and explain every dish separately.

The meat: for this dish we had a nice piece of beef tenderloin, about 400-450 grams, that we cut in to 3 equal parts. The advantage of using the loin is the fact that the mat has a round shape and it’s easier to wrap the prosciutto around it. Besides the beef, I had 6 slices of the prosciutto, 2 tbs of finely chopped sage and  a couple of tbs of olive oil. Wrap 2 prosciutto strips around the length of each beef portion, leaving the sections clear (you can use string to keep the met on, I didn’t find it necessary).  Rub some sage on the parts that are not covered by the ham.  Next, heat up the olive oil in a oven-proof pan, and, when it’s nice and hot cook on all sides for about 1 minute each. After that, transfer the pan to a preheated oven (180 Celsius) for around 15 minutes or how long you need to cook the meat the way you like it. After that, just let it sit for a couple of minutes before  cutting it an transferring to a plate.

Mushroom and Spinach Sauté : Meanwhile, heat up some oil in a pan, and add 1 medium onion and 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, and about 500 grams of button mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters. Saute this over medium high heat until the mushrooms are soft, add about 200 grams of spinach leaves, salt, pepper, and cook for another 2 minutes, then remove from the stove.

For the polenta, put to boil in a tall, heavy base pan, 500 ml water, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of cornmeal. When this mix starts boiling, slowly add more cornmeal, mixing constantly. When it gets hard to mix, stop adding the flour, but keep on stirring the polenta. This whole operation should be done in 12-15 minutes.  Remove the pan form the heat, add 50 grams of butter and about 75 grams of grated parmigiano and mix it all together.

So, these are the 3 parts of the recipe, actually pretty easy to cook at the same time. You can also make a very easy reduction, like the one here. 

Enjoy!