May 17, 2005
I'm still a newish cook, and this recipe entailed several firsts for me: the first time I've cooked with either filet mignon or shallots, and the first time I've ever reduced a sauce.
With those caveats, I found the results to be a little disappointing, flavor-wise. But I had very high expectations, so this just resulted in this being "pretty good" in my book. The filets with the shallots and garlic were very tasty, but I found my wine sauce to be fairly bland.
Step 1 wasn't too clear (to this beginner) about what heat (low, medium, high, boil) to reduce the sauce on. I had it too low, then cranked it up, and it still took me 1.5 hours to get 3 cups of sauce.
And I don't think the 2-3 minutes in step 3 was enough to thicken the sauce, either.
I may try this recipe again, though - it has a lot of potential, but I've got to get the hang of making sauces like this.
—NMChef1
