Red Wine & Cherry Reduction 

with Filet Mignon

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart 

and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Food for the Palate

Ingredients:

2 6oz Filets

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic power

4 minced garlic cloves

4 Tbsp butter (divided)

1 tsp allspice

1/2 cup Amarena wild cherries in syrup (Bing work too)

1 cup red wine

                                                                    

Instructions: Preheat Oven to 400F

Before starting on your filet, you want to get your reduction sauce going. I have been waiting for these Amarena wild cherries to come for some time now. I am so excited that they arrived this week and I can use them. They are delicious! But if you don't have them and can't find them, you can always use Bing cherries in syrup as well.

Combine your cherries, 4 tablespoons of the syrup, red wine and allspice in a sauce pan on medium heat. Once you have a small boil, reduce heat to simmer. You will need to simmer the sauce for some time until the sauce reduces by half. Remove from heat.

Season your filets with garlic, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder on both sides. Put into a hot (oven proof) sauté pan some 2 tsp olive oil and sear your filets on both sides - about 2-3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Once both sides are seared add 2 Tbsp butter. Braise once or twice with the melted butter and then put your sauté pan in your 400F oven for 5-7 minutes.

When your filet is cooked to your desired temperature, remove from heat and the pan and allow to rest for 5-8 minutes. While your meat is resting, reheat your cherry sauce and add 2 Tbsp of butter.

Plate your filet and spoon cherries on top of meat. Drizzle the cherry sauce on top of your filet. Enjoy!

Tasty to the Palate!

Food For the Soul

I waited several weeks for my Amarena wild cherries to arrive in the mail. Waiting has always been a challenge for me. If I know that something special is waiting for me, I tend to want it right now and not later! When I buy a gift for a person, I just have to let someone know because I just can't keep it to myself! Worse of all, when I was a teenager I would open gifts to me under our Christmas tree early, and then rewrap them for Christmas day. While my sneaky act may have curbed my appetite for knowing what was in the packages, it wasn't as exciting to open a gift when you already knew its contents.

As I have grown older (much older), I have learned that waiting has its benefits. I no longer open my gifts early and then rewrap them. While I can still struggle with waiting at times, I also know that our world is geared toward instant gratification, and we are reluctant to wait. Modern conveniences like the microwave, jets, smart phones and WIFI have taught us that we can have many things without waiting. 

The familiar expression 'patience is a virtue' means that waiting is a skill worth learning and a valuable tool in life. If patience is a virtue, then it is something that we all need to attain as we share in living on this big globe we call our present home.

But I still can struggle with waiting on occasion. And let's face it, waiting can sometimes be excruciating and even painful at times. But the Bible says; "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14      

A.W. Tozer once said about waiting; "What then are we to do about our problems? We must learn to live with them until such a time as God delivers us from them...we must pray for grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. They harm us only when we resist them or endure them unwillingly." 

As I reflect on my present situation at this particular time with my physical limitations due to back issues, I am reminded that I really only have two choices; I either complain, grumble, feel sorry for myself and make everyone around me miserable, or I allow God to give me the strength to endure the struggles I am faced with and trust Him in the waiting process. I need to regularly remind myself that God is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31).  I need take my impatience to Him and not allow Satan to entice me with questioning whether or not God even cares about my situation. Jeremiah 29:11 is a great reminder of what God thinks of my situation and how I can trust Him in the waiting, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Waiting for my cherries to arrive wasn't bad at all. I knew that eventually they probably would show up and then I could do something delicious with them, and I sure wasn't disappointed! But how much more precious a treasure to know that waiting on God brings us His best for us. God's timing isn't in our human timing. And His timing is trustworthy and is always the best!

Food for the Soul!