Ina Garten's 5-Ingredient, No-Cook Sauce Will Bring Life To Your Beef Tenderloin
Flavorful and surprisingly simple to prepare, beef tenderloin is a crowd-pleasing dinner whether you're making Rosa Di Parma or a homemade beef Wellington –- just take it from Ina Garten.
In a YouTube video, kitchen-guru Garten shows how she combines 1½ cups of mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1½ tablespoons of coarse-grain mustard, 1 tablespoon of horseradish, ⅓ of a cup of sour cream, and a pinch of salt to make a sauce for beef tenderloin. She then whisks everything together and serves the horseradish mustard on the side, creating the perfect "high-low" meal: a fancy piece of beef with a sauce from common pantry items (but will knock your socks off nevertheless).
Why Ina Garten's sauce is worth trying and other variations to enjoy
As far as condiments go, mayonnaise is incredibly versatile. While you can use it to make a pesto spread and even deep fry cubes of mayonnaise, it's not typically associated with a fancy meal. However, Ina Garten says it makes a great base for a sauce, and she's right. The key is to add the right ingredients –- like white wine or mustard, as Garten suggests –- to neutralize the taste of the mayonnaise.
Garten's sauce pairs nicely with beef tenderloin for several reasons. Hot, bold, and zingy, horseradish is traditionally paired with beef to bring out the flavor of the meat. However, it can be quite potent and sharp on its own or in too great a quantity. We love Garten's horseradish mustard sauce because the sour cream blends well with the mayonnaise, creating a rich, creamy base that allows the bite of horseradish and Dijon to come through without overpowering the dish.
If you're not a fan of mustard, you could try Ina Garten's recipe for beef filet with basil mayonnaise sauce, which involves making a homemade mayonnaise with basil and garlic. However you decide to make your sauce, the fat content from the mayonnaise will melt into the meat, enhancing the flavor.
