A December tradition: Marinated beef tenderloin.

If you like beef, this has to be one of the best cuts…tender, flavorful and medium rare…delicious! Sides were smashed potatoes with bacon vinaigrette and cacio e pepe Brussel sprouts from the Half Baked Harvest cookbook. What makes the beef besides the cut? The marinade plain and simple. Email me for the recipe but the source is the 1985 Southern Living Annual Recipes.

Our wine: the 2011 Quilceda Creek red blend…left bank in style. Decanted for about 30 minutes and it was oak forward with notes of tobacco and dark fruit. Smooth tannins and, exceptional.

A mention about the dessert, a panettone from a small producer near Milan. One of the best I’ve ever experienced. The source? Garagiste. If you aren’t familiar with this Seattle email based wine merchant here’s a NYT article from a few years ago.

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