Tasty Tuesday- Valentine's Day Edition

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday this year, I decided to incorporate it into my Tasty Tuesday. To celebrate our first Married Valentine's Day, we decided to pick out something to cook together. After an extensive (but limited- due to my lack of culinary exploration) search, we picked Blue Cheese Crusted Filet with Port Wine Sauce and Asparagus Parmesan. It was a great experience and helped us bond as a married couple.

Blue Cheese Crusted Filet with Port Wine Sauce
Ingredients:
Port Wine Sauce
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup minced white onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tbsp of dried thyme)
3/4 cup of low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup port wine

Blue Cheese crusted Filet
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 filet mignon steaks (1 1/2 inch thick)
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:
Port Wine Sauce:
1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme. Cook, stirring constantly, untiil onion is tender.
2. Stir in the beef broth, scraping any onion bits from the bottom of the pan, then stir in the port wine.
3. Bring to a boil, and cook until the mixture has reduced to about 1/2 cup. Set aside. This may also be made ahead of time, and reheated.

Blue Cheese Crusted Filet:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Heat oil in a cast-iron or other oven safe skillet over high heat. Sear steaks quickly on both sides until brown, then place the whole pan into the oven.
3. Roast steaks in the oven for about 15 minutes for medium rare (30 minutes for well done)- with an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. You may adjust this time to allow the steaks to finish just below your desired degree of doneness if medium is not what you prefer.
4. Remove from the oven, and place on a baking sheet.
5. Stir together the panko crumbs and blue cheese. Top each steak with a layer of this mixture.
6. Preheat the oven's broiler. Place steaks under the preheated broiler until the cheese topping is browned and bubbly. 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven, and let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve with the warm port wine sauce.


We only cooked two steaks, so I cooked the whole recipe for the sauce and halved the steak topping (panko and cheese). Below are some pictures of our wonderful meal. We loved this!