"FA-LA-LA-LA-LA" FILET MIGNON

Stew Leonard's Offers Ways to Wow this Holiday Favorite

NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 8, 2005 -- As the temperature outside decreases, sales of filet mignon heat up at Stew Leonard's. Filet mignon is the number one selling item year-round at Stew's, and during the week leading up to Christmas, sales increase 60 percent. Customers line up in the meat section to have one of Stew Leonard's 30 expertly trained butchers custom cut their beef tenderloin to their exact specifications. While people love to serve filet mignon for holiday entertaining, the most frequently asked question customers ask is how to prepare it.

"Customers stampede to Stew Leonard's during the holiday to get a whole beef tenderloin to serve for their holiday meals. They know that we receive daily deliveries from our ranchers in Kansas, and that they can not get a higher quality filet mignon for a better price anywhere else," said Lou Trani who has been manager of the meat department at Stew Leonard's Norwalk store for 12 years. "Customers want to 'wow' their guests during the holidays and are looking for new ideas to prepare filet mignon, so our chefs developed five fast recipes that we put into a free brochure offered at the meat counter and on our web site, including two of my favorites -- Peppercorn Filet with Cognac Sauce and Herbed Beef Tenderloin with Port Sauce."

Stew Leonard's offers additional recipe ideas for serving filet mignon in Stew Leonard's Winning Recipes Cookbook (available at Stew Leonard stores and online at www.stewleonardsgifts.com). The book includes a section titled "10 Winning Ways to WOW Filet Mignon." Here are a four of Stew's favorite filet recipes from that section:

Filet Mignon with Cognac Peppercorn Sauce: Pan-sear 4 filets (Season filets with ½ teaspoon salt and 1 ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and cook the steaks, turning once, for 5 minutes or until desired doneness.). Remove the filets from the skillet and keep warm. Over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter; 5 shallots, minced; and 1 tablespoon dried peppercorn mixture to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Stir in 1/3 cup cognac or brandy and cook for 1 minute, stirring to deglaze.

Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Sauce: Pan-sear 4 filets (season filets with ½ teaspoon salt and 1 ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and cook the steaks, turning once, for 5 minutes or until desired doneness.) Remove the filets from the skillet and keep warm. Over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter and ½ pound fresh assorted mushrooms to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have released their juices. Add 3 shallots, minced, and cook for 1 minute. Add ½ cup red wine and ½ cup beef broth. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Serve over the filets

Gorgonzola Filets: In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper; 1 clove garlic, minced; and 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed. Rub into 4 filets. Pan sear the filets. Remove to a plate to keep warm. Add ½ cup beef broth and 1/3 cup dry red wine to the same pan. Over medium-high heat, bring to a broil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to release the browned bites. Remove from the heat and stir in 4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese. Serve over the filets

Caramelized Onion Filets: In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add 2 large yellow and/or red onions, halved and sliced; ¼ teaspoon salt; and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, or until browned and very tender. Stir in 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Remove to a bowl and keep warm. Pan sear 4 filets in the same skillet and serve over a bed of the onions.

Here are some of our butchers' tips for selecting and storing filet mignon:

• A good rule of thumb to use when shopping for whole tenderloin is that one pound of untrimmed filet will feed one person.
• When picking a filet, squeeze the meat and make sure it is soft—this means there is not a lot of fat. The softer it feels, and the more it bends, the better. A tenderloin that feels hard inside the package or does not bend as easily is higher in fat.
• Store the tenderloin in the coldest part of the refrigerator—usually this is on the bottom shelf. Be sure to cook and serve the filet within three days to ensure its freshness

Stew Leonard's, a family-owned and operated grocery founded in 1969, has three stores in Norwalk and Danbury, Conn. And Yonkers, N.Y., with additional stores planned in Orange, Conn. and East Farmingdale, N.Y. The company was named among FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" for the past three consecutive years. For more information visit Stew Leonard's website at www.stewleonards.com.