Beef Medallions with Cipollini Onions and Red Wine Sauce

[FTC Disclaimer] This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef ® brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC. All opinions are my own.

This dish is just the ticket for Valentines Day.  It's simple and doesn't require advanced cooking skills. Even though any dolt can make this, it has an elegant flair to it and will make you look like a gourmet hero.

This is Sautèed Medallions with Pearl Onions Red Wine Sauce.  It is the #BeefCookAlong recipe from Certified Angus Beef® Brand for February.  This is a series where Chef Michael Ollier and Chef Gavin Pinto walk you through a specific recipe in a Facebook Live video and answer questions from viewers.  If you miss it live, you can still catch the video - here is the video for this month.

This is my #BeefCookAlong.  I followed the recipe.....mostly.  Here is where I deviated:

• Fire - They did their demo live from the Certified Angus Beef® Brand Culinary Center, but of course, I did mine over live fire.  
• Beef - I intended to use medallions cut from a top sirloin petite roast, but my Food City was out.  It was early, and they had a truck coming in, but I didn't want to go back, so I substituted beef tenderloin.
• Onions - I upgraded from pearl onions to cipollini onions.

I forgot to buy fresh thyme, but fortunately, my thyme plant in the front yard still offered a few small sprigs.  You can tell the beef fillet were cut from the butt end of a tenderloin.  I planned to bisect them and then cut the 4 pieces into medallions.

Cipollini onions are small but bigger than pearl onions.  They might be small, but they are full flavored.  I like fire roasting them or braising them until tender, it brings out their sweetness.

After splitting the fillets into medallions, they were each slightly thicker than 1".

This is a fast cooking meal, so mise en place is critical. This includes tools as well as ingredients. The tools I had were tongs, a wooden flat edged spoon, and a pair of grilling gloves.  The cast iron is going to come out scorching hot, and we don't want any accidents 

I used enamel coated cast iron for 2 reasons.  First, it captures the sucs (brown bits) for my pan sauce.  Second, deglazing a black cast iron pan can mess up its seasoning.

My grill was running hot, North of 500°f and the medallions are thin.  I grilled these right at 90 seconds per side.

Look at that crust on the steak bites.

I love to cook over hot hardwood lump charcoal.

All of the ingredients back in the pan to rest.

The potatoes au gratin were quite good.  The smoked cheeses, onions and creamy sauce were just the ticket to go with this steak dish.

The sweet and rich red wine sauce was phenomenal. 

This recipe is easy, you should try it out.

The medallions were a perfect medium rare.

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