Beef Tenderloin with Five-Onion Sauce

This sounds like a great and fancy recipe. And it kind of is, in the fact that it takes some more expensive ingredients and a bit more time than I like. However, just because it's fancy, doesn't mean it's good. I wouldn't NOT recommend this recipe....but I wouldn't recommend it either. Just with the time it takes, coupled with the cost, it wasn't really worth it to me. The meat was tender, but dry. It definitely needed a bite of onion sauce with each forkful to have flavor. 

• 3 1/2 lb trimmed beef tenderloin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp pepper, divided
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 large yellow onions, sliced and separated into rings
• 2 large red onions, sliced and separated into rings
• 2 bunches green onions, chopped
• 12 shallots, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup cognac
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• garnish: fresh thyme sprigs

Sprinkle tenderloin with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Secure with a string at 1-inch intervals. Brown tenderloin on all sides in hot oil in a heavy roasting pan or ovenproof Dutch oven. Remove tenderloin, reserving drippings in pan. 

Add butter to drippings, and cook over medium-high heat until melted. Add yellow and red onions, and saute 5 minutes. Add green onions, shallots, and garlic, and saute 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir in cognac and broth; cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until liquid evaporates (about 5 minutes). Place tenderloin on top. 

Bake, covered, in a roasting pan at 400 for 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 145 degrees. Remove tenderloin from roasting pan, reserving onion mixture in pan; cover tenderloin loosely, and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Cook onion mixture on the stove over medium heat, stirring constantly, 3-5 minutes, or until liquid evaporates. Stir in remaining 1 tsp salt and remaining 1/2 tsp pepper. Serve onion mixture with sliced tenderloin. Garnish, if desired. 

NOTES: You may be reading the ingredient list going, ummm, this is called a "five onion sauce." Where is the fifth onion? Well, here's your educational moment of the day: garlic is part of the onion family! 

Also, I wrote a note to myself on the second paragraph. My note specifically says, "Lies! Takes forever!" So, I didn't adjust any of the times in the recipe because I can't remember exactly how long it ended up taking us, but be ready for it. I did move the notation of when to start preheating to MUCH later than the recipe originally called for. I don't know about you, but I don't need to be heating my house up for 20 extra minutes. 

Serves 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Recipe from America's Best Recipes: Comfort Food