French Cooking Techniques - Beef FILET TRUFFÉ

French cooking is indeed an art, but an art that seems to come so naturally to the
French. French cuisine can be created by a novice, or someone trained by an
expert chef, or the expert chefs themselves, to create the seemingly impossible.

Great gourmet food is an exacting art to a chef, and one that the French chefs are proud of, and rightly so. Many of the great chefs in France learned their basic skills from their mothers and grandmothers. These special mother chefs [quite famous in their own rights], were called 'Mères'.

Anyone that loves good food, and loves to cook, can prepare the majority of the well-known French classic dishes. Most are easy and of course...delicious.

Ingredients

1. White truffle oil;
2. 4 5-oz filet mignon steaks;
3. 2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano;
4. 1/2 lb lettuce or field greens;
5. 1 tbs red wine vinegar;
6. 1 tbs balsamic vinegar;
7. 6 tbs extra-virgin olive oil;
8. 1 tbs unsalted butter;
9. Cracked pepper and fines herbs for the steak;
10. Salt, ground pepper and fines herbs for the greens;
11. A sheet of waxed paper to cover the steaks.

1. Several hours before eating, sprinkle ample amounts of the cracked pepper and fines herbs over the steaks. Place the wax paper over the pepper-fines herbs combination and press down to set the herbs and pepper into the steaks. Put aside;
2. Shave the cheese with a vegetable peeler. Set aside;
3. Immediately before grilling the steaks, wash and dry the greens. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and ground pepper. Put aside;
4. Warm the plates in a medium oven;
5. Grill the steaks for 5 minutes on each side. Preheat a frying pan. Then, when you remove the steaks from the grill, place the butter and 1 tbs of oil in the pan and pan fry the steaks, over a medium flame, to finish them to your liking. When done, drizzle the white truffle oil over the steaks;
6. Toss the greens with the dressing. Place 1/4th of the greens on each plate and center the steaks on the greens;
7. Top each steak with the shaved cheese and serve.