I read about this once, in a Mario Batali cookbook. He rubbed the beef with a fragrant paste which consisted of dried porcini mushrooms, olive oil and spices. I tried it on beef tenderloin and it was absolutely fantastic. For the rub, I didn’t use a paste but a dry mixture of ground porcini, black pepper and sea salt. I served it with a grilled potato salad and blue cheese sauce. The sauce worked very well, but a simple mustard or bearnaise would also compliment the meat.

Ingredients

• One whole beef tenderloin, about 1,2 – 1,5 kg, tied with kitchen twine
• ¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 Tbs black peppercorns
• 1 Tbs sea salt
• a little olive oil for brushing the meat

For the blue cheese sauce

• 200 grams mascarpone cheese
• 200 grams blue cheese

Method

Put the porcini, black pepper and salt in a spice mill or small blender. Grind into a powder.

Brush the beef with olive oil and sprinkle generously with the porcini mixture. If you have some left, ut it in a jar and use it to season steaks or chops.

Turn the grill on high heat and sear the beef, on all sides, for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes more, for medium-rare. Let the meat rest, loosely covered with foil, for 30 minutes.

In a blender mix the mascarpone with the blue cheese. Put in a bowl. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce and grilled potato salad.

Note: You can cook the beef in the oven if you prefer. Just sear it, on all sides, in a pan first, over high heat for 5-6 minutes. Then cook in a preheated oven, 220 C, for 20 minutes for medium rare.