Ina Garten's Beef Tenderloin Recipe With A Twist

Whether you're searching for the perfect menu item to add to your holiday dinner line-up or simply a comforting cold-weather recipe, this is it. This beef tenderloin recipe is sure to please.

It goes without saying that Ina Garten is a staple in the celebrity chef world, and her recipes produce phenomenal results. She's known for her homestyle comfort food, sometimes with the most delicious twists. We decided to take one of her staple recipes, her filet of beef recipe, and do just the same. It's been spruced up with a twist, making a simple cut of beef super interesting.

Recipe developer and food photographer Petar Marshall is sharing just how to prepare a delicious beef tenderloin, or filet of beef, with all the fixings. The recipe features a rosemary and sweet vermouth sauce, along with a hint of orange for a beautiful dish. And the best part? Once the sauce is made, the rest of the cooking is left up to the oven!

Ready to dive in on making this special dish? For this recipe, you'll need, one filet of beef (about two to three pounds), two cups of sweet vermouth, two tablespoons of olive oil, one cup of brown sugar, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, bay leaves, a whole head garlic, one shallot, and two oranges.

"You can easily double this recipe if you need to serve a larger roast," says Marshall. "Double the recipe for the sauce if you double the number of pounds of meat."

To get started on making this simple and delicious beef tenderloin recipe, you'll need to make the sauce for it first. First up, add all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add in the sweet vermouth, olive oil, brown sugar, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, minced garlic, and diced shallot. Use one of the oranges for the sauce as well. Juice and zest the orange into the bowl.

Once all of the ingredients have been added, whisk the mixture until combined.

With the rosemary vermouth mixture ready, it's time to warm it up. Transfer the mixture from the mixing bowl into a saucepan. Heat the sauce just to bring it to a gentle boil, and then remove it from the heat. "This step helps to create incredible flavor within the sauce," says Marshall.

Once you've removed the sauce from the heat, set it aside. Remove the beef filet from its package, and place it in a baking dish. Next, pour all of the sauce over top of the beef, and then place the meat in the fridge. 

"You want to allow the beef to marinate for at least two hours," says Marshall. "However, leaving it longer is great. Even more flavor will continue to develop the longer it's left to marinate."

Once the beef has marinated, remove the baking dish from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Once the baking dish is no longer cold, place it in the oven and roast the beef at 500 F. While the roast is cooking, occasionally spoon the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish over top of the meat again. "This creates a nice, light candied crust on the outside," says Marshall. 

Roast the meat for 22 to 25 minutes, which is the ideal timing for those who want a rare or medium-rare roast. Once the roast is finished, remove it from the oven. Cover it with aluminum foil to allow it to rest for 15 to 20 minutes. While the meat rests, prepare a serving dish with a bed of orange slices, and then place the roast on top with a garnish of rosemary.

There's no doubting that Ina Garten knows how to make a delicious filet of beef that will put a smile on anybody's face. And this recipe certainly follows her helpful tips on cooking method, but it also kicks the flavor of the meat up to a whole new level.

By combining sweet vermouth, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves, you create an incredible base of flavor for the beef. Adding in the juice and zest of the orange just makes it that much better. "The rosemary–sweet vermouth sauce adds an herbal kick to the roast, with a hint of citrus from the orange," says Marshall. "It's cooked to medium-rare for perfectly tender meat."

With those additions, it also lends wonderfully to beautiful garnishes that make this beef tenderloin worthy of any dinner table.