Filet Mignon with Sweet Potatoes & Onion Rings

Last night I made several of my favorite things for dinner. Steak. Potatoes. and something fried.

Here's what I used:

2 sweet potatoes

2 filet's of beef
about a cup Soy Sauce
1 tbsp. McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

1 vidalia onion
about a cup of AP flour
S&P
about a cup of Heavy Cream
2-3 cups of Olive Oil


Here's what I did:

First I washed and poked holes in the sweet potatoes and threw them in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour.

Next, I marianated the filets in a glass baking dish by pouring about a cup of soy sauce, and generously shaking the steak seasoning into the dish (about a tablespoon). I allowed the steaks to marianate until about the last ten minutes of the sweet potatoe's cook time, so about 45-50 minutes.

Finally I skinned, and cut the onion into ringlets, and placed them into a bowl with the heavy cream (this gives my breading something to grab onto). I was out of Canola Oil, so I winged it with Olive Oil instead. I added about 2-3 cups of it to my skillet, and allowed it to heat up. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl I combined the AP Flour with a good amount of S&P, and then tested the oil with one little onion ring.... Once it got good an hot, I added just enough rings until the bottom of the skillet was full, you don't want to overfill the pan or the breading won't get nice and crispy, and the onions won't cook as well. It took about three rounds of rings until they were all a nice golden brown. As they cooked, I used tongs to move the rings onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Once all rings were on the towel, I sprinkled liberally with Tony Chacherie's Cajun Seasoning.

As the final round of onion rings were in the pan, I started up another skillet with about 2 tbsp. of butter. Once that was crackling, I added my steaks and let them sear for 2 minutes per side. Just as the sweet potatoes were coming out of the oven, I lowered the heat to 300 and popped my seared steaks in for about 5-7 minutes. This finishes off the cooking to about medium rare without burning the surfaces of the steak.

On to the plating: I cut the sweet potatoes lengthwise, and then pushed/mashed them in from the long sides to open them up a little. I don't feel the need to add any seasonings or butter to them, they're great as they are. Add the steak, and top with the onion rings. YUMMM.

This got very high reviews from my foodie husband - who is never shy to give me honest feedback on my cooking. His one remark was that he thought the Olive Oil may have made the onion rings a little greasy-tasting, and that Canola Oil may have been better.

C'est la Vie. Maybe next time...