Tenderloin Steak and Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I'm not a huge meat fan, but every now and then, I get a craving for a meaty hit of protein—and nothing hits the spot like biting into a perfectly cooked tenderloin. It doesn't have the marbling of a top-blade steak, or the beefy umami of hanger steak, but what it lacks in lubricants and flavor, it makes up for with its tender, juicy texture. 

The thing is, it's fairly easy to add more flavor and richness to a steak with a simple pan sauce, and this creamy maitake mushroom sauce is exactly what's needed to take this to a new level of decadence. 

When cooking thicker cuts of steak, it's all about the thick brown crust of caramelized meat juices, and I've developed a method that works exceptionally well.  My trick is to lightly brown all four sides first. Then, I turn the steak every 30 seconds until it's cooked to my liking (rare). This ensures the steak cooks evenly while building up layers of concentrated meat juices on every surface of the steak. 

As the steak cooks and browns, it'll deposit some of that browned fond on the pan, and by adding a liquid to it, you can deglaze the pan to make a flavorful sauce. For this one, I first build up a little more flavor by sauteing Maitake mushrooms and onions with butter. Then, I hit it with some white wine to deglaze all of the flavors from the pan. A hit of cream at the end creates a rich, velvety sauce that lifts the flavors from the pan and returns it to the steak. 

I know everyone has different preferences for how cooked they like their steaks, so I've provided temperatures in the recipe below, but I'd strongly recommend you keep it to medium well or under, or you'll miss out on the juicy tenderness that you're paying for by buying a tenderloin steak.