Tenderloin

Saturday 16 June (Bloomsday)
Not the San Francisco neighborhood, but a very tender beef tenderloin, also from our Jungle Jim's expedition (they were out of veal breast). We were having Jeff and Caroline over for dinner, and wanted something special but also relatively casual.
Appetizers featured the usual crackers and olives, plus:
Roasted red and yellow peppers (a recurring fave)
Smoked bluefish pâté. This was a recipe I scribbled down at a party in Swarthmore ca. 1989, but never made it because we haven't been able to obtain smoked bluefish. But since Holt now smokes 'em if he's got 'em, we can now produce the delicious stuff in minutes; here's how. In the Robot-coupe, whirl the following ingredients until smooth: a half-pound of smoked bluefish, 3 oz. of cream cheese, 3 oz. of butter, a dab each of mustard and prepared white horseradish, and a good grind of white pepper. We were licking all the utensils, even the sharp ones.
Alas, it proved too hot to have appetizers in the garden, so we stayed indoors in air-conditioned bliss and proceeded to:
The Tenderloin, rubbed with a spice mixture of toasted cumin and coriander seeds (recipe here, but I cut the amount of kosher salt in half, and would scant it even more next time).
We followed Julia's advice on tenderloins, however, didn't pre-sear, and allotted 35-45 minutes for the roast. Needless to say, Julia was right. The automatic thermometer did its job nicely and beeped at 125º.
Even before the tenderloin went in, we started some red onions and carrots roasting in its destined pan, then added the parsnips along with the beef. All the vedge ended up nicely caramelized at the end.
Next course: salad, of varied lettuces fresh picked from the garden.
And dessert, of course, featured Graeter's ice cream. Since Caroline is from here, we had to have Graeter's out of local piety; but we also serve it to all out of town guests, to blow them away with how good it is. Our friend Helene, for example, was so taken with it that she had it at every meal, indeed AS every meal, for as long as she was here. So we offered a choice of strawberry chip, mocha chip, coconut chip, or mango sorbet, but to fancy-shmancy it up, Holt (as the Fabulous Baker Boy) had used his magic pastry bag to build little meringue nests, for the ice cream to sit in, and for fresh blueberries to be sprinkled attractively on top of.
He ended up with some left over meringue mixture, so he tossed in a bunch of ground hazelnuts (including the ones left over from the topping for the orzotto way back when) and made a batch of little meringue macaroonas (which is TWO forbidden dances) as well.
Jeff and Caroline live in Ithaca, and it's thanks to them (and the Finger Lakes wineries) that we had such a good time last summer. So we served Lamoureaux Landing Chardonnay and Red Newt Pinot Noir, for that touch of nostalgia. There was also Masi Campofiorin, which we bought entirely for the label; it says "Nectar Angelorum Hominibus" ("nectar of the angels for men,") which Jeff rightly adjudged a dative of advantage.