Recipe(tried): Beef Tenderloin with Bearnaise Sauce, My Mom's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Fri. was my DH's birthday and he was too tired to go out so we fixed a special bday dinner at home.

Beef Tenderloin with Bearnaise Sauce
Mashed (whipped) Yukon Gold Potatoes
Steamed Asparagas
French bread (store bought)
My Mom's Chocolate Cake with coffee ice cream

Even though it was my DH's bday, he grilled the steak on our charcoal grill with mesquite chips soaked about an hour in water to add the mesquite smoke flavor. I made the Bearnaise Sauce.

Bearnaise Sauce
1/2 bottle(about half of 3/8 oz. bottle) dried tarragon
1/3 bunch parsley
2 - 3 green onions, finely chopped
Cover with white cider vinegar

Simmer this mixture until most of the vinegar has evaporated. This is more than you will need for the sauce but the remainder will keep almost indefinitely , covered in the refrigerator.

5 egg yolks
1 stick butter
1 - 2 tbl white wine
pinch of salt
2 tbl. lemon juice

In the top of a double boiler,over hot, not boiling water, beat the egg yolks with a whisk. Add enough white wine to make the egg yolks light yellow. Meanwhile, melt the butter over low heat. When the butter is melted, add it slowly, drop by drop, or in a very thin stream to the egg yoks and wine, whisking constantly. It should start to thicken. Add the salt, a pinch of cayenne, if you like, lemon juice and 1 1/2 - 2 tsp. of the tarragon mixture. Serve warm with the staek. Be careful not to heat too hot since the sauce will break and/or curdle - you don't want scrambled eggs! I have found that if this gets too thick, it can be thinned, carefully,by whisking in a tsp. of water at a time.

My Mom's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is a very easy chocolate cake and not very fancy. This was what won my DH's heart, so to speak. Most men like this cake because it is very moist. Don't try to take this cake out of the pan because it will crumble & fall apart because it is so moist. Since it is kept in the pan, it isn't very fancy but you can still decorate it to make it special.

1/4 lb. (i stick) butter
2, 1 oz. squares unsweetened (bitter) Hershey's baking chocolate
1/2 c. boiling water
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. milk, soured with 1 tsp. white cider vinegar
1 egg
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. pure vanilla eztract (not imitation)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. salt

Grease and lightly flour a 7" by 11" by 2" baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix vinegar with milk and let sit until you need it.

Melt butter and chocolate in microwave on high for 1 min. (If you don't have a microwave, and how my mom always did it, was to use a paring knife to kind of shred the chocolate and cut the butter into smaller chunks, then pour the boiling water over this & it will melt the chocolate). Add the boiling water & stir until the choclate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the sugar and blend well. Add the milk, mix; then add the egg and mix. Add the flour, soda, vanilla and salt and beat for a couple of minutes. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 30 min. until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack and frost with desired frosting.

My Mom's Chocolate Frosting

4 - 5 Tbl. butter (softened)
About 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbl, unsweetened cocoa
pinch of salt
2 - 3 Tbl water to give desired spreading consistency

You will notice that there is no vanilla in this frosting recipe & that my mom always used water, not milk. Feel free to use whatever frosting you like, though.

Beat ingredients with an electric mixer. Frost cooled cake.

Since we had left over Bearnaise Sauce, we decided to have it with salmon which DH grilled outdorrs, on Sat night. Though I wasn't sure that this would work for reheating the Bearnaise Sauce, it did. Add a tsp or 2 of water to the sauce & mix in. (This was hard because the butter was hard form being refrigerated. Just do the best that you can.) Cover leaving a small vent. Microwave on 50% power (level 5) for 20 seconds. Whisk. Repeat. After whisking a second time, heat only 10 to 15 seconds the 3rd time. Remember, you don't want scrambled eggs. If you do scramble the Bearnaise Sauce accidently, here is a delicious mixture to baste your salmon with as you grill it. Dh & I came up with this one years ago. For 2, 1 inch thick salmon steaks, melt 2 Tbl. butter. Add the juice of about 3/8 of a lemon and a sprinkle of powdered thyme. Brush salmon steaks with mixture. Grill about 4 min on each side.

Even though we didn't eat out this weekend, we ate like a king and queen:-)