Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Butter

The secret to a perfectly crusted steak:  a flat, stainless steel grill pan.  I go through about 2 of these every season.  They are perfect for steak, burgers, fish, and vegetables because there is more surface contact creating an even crust, and you don’t run the risk of losing your dinner through the grates.  Get it screaming hot.

For each person:

8-10 oz. Tenderloin Steak

1 strip bacon

1 Tbs unsalted butter

1 Tbs (about 1 oz.) blue cheese

2 tsp Worcester Sauce

Olive Oil, salt & pepper for grilling the steaks

• In a small bowl, in the microwave, melt the butter and the blue cheese until soft.  Stir in the Worcester sauce.  Refrigerate until ready to use.
• About 1 hour prior to cooking, season each steak on all sides with salt & pepper and allow them to come to room temperature.
• Pre-heat the grill and the grill pan for at least 10 minutes on the highest setting your grill has, with the cover closed
• Brush the steaks with olive oil set them on the grill pan.  Close the lid.  Once you have put them down, do not move them for 4 minutes.  This is what creates the crust.
• Brush the top side again with olive oil, turn the steaks and close the lid.  Do not move them for 4 minutes.
• At this point, you probably have medium rare steaks.  I use the touch method. If the middle of the steak is still very soft (just touch it with your tongs), it’s rare. The firmer the meat feels in the middle, the more the steak is cooked.  We like our more in the medium range, or very pink.  
• Depending on the thickness of your steak, you may need to cook it a bit longer. Move the entire grill pan over to one side of the grill, turn off the burners under the pan, and close the cover.  This will give you an oven temperature of about 400.  Leave the steaks for another 3-4 minutes for medium.
• Take the steaks off, and loosely cover them with foil for about 5 minutes.  
• Spoon the blue cheese butter on top of the steaks, and serve.