Coffee-Roasted Fillet of Beef Recipe (2024)

By Julie Powell

Coffee-Roasted Fillet of Beef Recipe (1)

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Rating: 4(175)
Notes: Read community notes

Just when I think all my recipe snipping and gluing and saving has been for naught, something turns me around. Take this coffee-roasted beef with mushrooms and pasilla chili broth. I couldn’t imagine why I had ever cut it out — so busy, so restauranty. But I tried it, soaking chilies in one corner, shiitakes in another, coating the beef with ground coffee and roasting it. Stacking was involved in the plating. I brought the admittedly gorgeous dishes to the table with a cynically arched brow. It was heavenly. And my faith was restored.

Featured in: The Way We Eat; File of Dreams

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 4 to 6

2dried pasilla chilies
16-inch white-corn tortilla
3tablespoons unsalted butter
1½cups chopped white onion
4large cloves garlic
2½cups chicken stock
¼cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
1teaspoon light-brown sugar
3tablespoons medium-roast coffee beans, finely ground
1tablespoon cocoa powder
⅛teaspoon ground cinnamon
12-pound beef tenderloin roast, cut from the large end, trimmed and tied at ½ -inch intervals with kitchen twine
Kosher salt and black pepper
2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¾pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
Sprigs of watercress

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

442 calories; 25 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 893 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Preparation

Step
1
Seed, stem and cut the chilies into pieces. Tear the tortilla into pieces. Set both aside. In a saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the chilies and tortilla and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until softened. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil and then simmer, partly covered, for 10 minutes. In a blender, purée the hot mixture until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve set over a saucepan, pressing on the solids. Discard the solids. Whisk in the cream, 1 teaspoon salt and the brown sugar. Season to taste.
Step
2
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the coffee, cocoa and cinnamon. Pat the beef dry and rub with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper; then rub with oil. Sprinkle the coffee mixture over a sheet of wax paper and coat the beef in it. Place the beef on a rack set in a roasting pan and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Step
3
Roast the beef for 10 minutes; then lower the temperature to 250 and cook for an hour more, or until the meat reaches 130 degrees. Let stand, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes. (The meat will continue to cook, reaching about 135 degrees.)
Step
4
Bring the broth to a boil and simmer until just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cover and keep warm.
Step
5
In a large skillet, melt the remaining butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden. Season with salt and pepper.
Step
6
Remove the twine and cut the beef into ½-inch-thick slices. Spoon just enough broth to cover the bottoms of 4 to 6 shallow, wide soup bowls. Add 2 to 3 slices of beef, spoon more broth over the beef if desired and top with mushrooms and watercress.

Ratings

out of 5

175

user ratings

Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Julie6 years ago

This was OK, there are better preparations for an expensive tenderloin. Sauce could use a mid note flavor in addition to the top of the pasilla chile and mellow bottom of cream/corn tortilla. The rub coating did keep the very lean roast moist, finished at med. rare. Will not do again.

Ian6 years ago

Excellent: lots of flavor. To make dinner night easier you can premake and reheat the sauce. I served this with also a simple sweet potato mash, placed at the center of the bowl/plate, on which I stacked the beef. This added a carb and paired well with the sauce and coffee rub crust. Enjoy!

Melomom6 years ago

I have made this several times and everyone loves it! A lot of flavor without too much fuss

Rhonda Sparks9 months ago

I don't know where I originally found this recipe (Fine Cooking back in the 1990's??) but have made it so many times and it's always a hit. Then I lost the recipe when moving countries. Working from memory I missed things. THIS IS IT, except my original didn't have the shiitake mushrooms, and I like that idea. The sauce can be made ahead. Will making for my husband's birthday this week.

Carole Brown2 years ago

I made this years ago and lost the recipe. Glad to have found it and will try again. What I remember about it is this: my son-in-law, 2 minutes after taking the plate over to eat in front of the TV joined us at the dining table stating "This is too delicious to eat in front of a TV."

Lisa2 years ago

Made this for Christmas dinner and it was a showstopper. It’s gorgeous on the plate and the flavors were complex and delicious. Three important points: use fine ground coffee. I just grabbed some coffee from our freezer, and it was too course. Also ours was dark roast and too bitter/intense. Definitely go for medium roast. Last, I agree with the post from Chelsea, the steps are in a weird order. No need to start the sauce/soup until you have the roast in the oven.

Ciel2 years ago

Be sure to liberally season the mushrooms and let them cook in the oil to which some butter has been added until all the water is extracted and they are nicely browned. This creates a richer flavor. Adding a few dried porcinis ground to a dust and some freshly grated nutmeg to the sauce will add the depth of flavor that I think everyone is looking for

Chelsea3 years ago

This came out quite nicely, though I think the recipe is written in sort of a strange order. I started by prepping the beef (used a pot roast cut, not a tenderloin) and then did the sauce during the resting and cooking time. I also used an immersion blender on the sauce rather than dirtying a blender and sieve and the little bit of texture remaining was not a problem at all. The mushrooms were a lovely touch and I was happy to have them there.

Klkruger6 years ago

Delicious sauce. (The mid notes come from the caramelization of the mushrooms and meat.) Made the sauce as written. Cooked 3 filets sous vide (130˚ for 60 min), dried them, then salt and peppered and applied the coffee-cocoa mix over that. Seared in a hot cast iron pan (in which a thin film of a mix of grapeseed oil and ghee) till caramelized on sides and edges. Served each atop a single roasted sweet potato (removed from its skin) surrounded by the sauce and the mushrooms.

Matt6 years ago

Made this sous vide at 131 °F for 90 minutes or so, already rubbed, with a bit of rendered tallow in the bag. Then finished it with a torch. Tasty! I agree with other comments here about the somewhat mild flavors, but that's how it goes with beef tenderloin.

Joelle6 years ago

I made this several years ago when the recipe first appeared in the Times Magazine. I didn't care for the the flavor of the crust or sauce. This recipe sounds glamorous which was part of its initial allure to me, but there are much tastier ways to prepare a beef tenderloin in hind sight.