Made By Melissa

I made these beef crostini with sage whipped cream to go along with the lime-marinated quesadillas for our Wii night. I had never made a crostini before, but had been eyeing a couple recipes for a while. I decided to make this one from foodnetwork.com. I did make a few changes, noted below.

Garlicky Beef Crostini with Sage Whipped Cream

• 1 baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds (about 30 pieces)
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin, trimmed (I used a 1 pound tenderloin steak)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper (I only used about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt  (I used 1 teaspoon sea salt)
• 1 cup sage whipped cream, recipe follows
• 30 small fresh sage leaves, for garnish (Omitted)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Lay the baguette slices on a baking sheet. Combine the butter and olive oil in a small bowl, and liberally brush each slice with the butter mixture. Bake in the top half of the oven until slightly golden, about 15 minutes.Rub the tenderloin with the garlic, pepper, and salt. Spray a large oven-proof skillet with cooking spray and place it over high heat for 1 minute. Put the tenderloin into the skillet and brown it on all sides, about 1 minute per side. I then turned the heat down to medium and cooked the meat in the skillet, turning once, until done, about 5-6 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 120 degrees F for rare, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the beef to a cutting board and rest for at least 15 minutes, or until ready to use. Immediately before serving, slice the tenderloin thinly into about 30 pieces.To assemble the hors d’oeuvre, squeeze a small dollop of the whipped cream onto the crostini. Top with a rosette of tenderloin and another dollop of whipped cream. Garnish with a sage leaf and serve.

Sage Whipped Cream

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• Pinch salt
• Pinch white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Whisk the heavy cream in a well-chilled medium mixing bowl until soft peak. Add the sage, salt and pepper and whisk until the peaks are firm. I found the whipped cream to be a little bit bland, so I folded in the dijon mustard to add some flavor. Spoon the whipped cream into the squeeze bottle and refrigerate until ready to use. I put the whipped cream into a plastic ziploc bag and snipped off the corner to squeeze onto the the crostini. Yield: 1 cup

This was Nate’s request for the Superbowl. I typically use a store bought marinade, but wanted to try something different. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com since I was out of Worcestershire sauce. These came out very well and I will definitely be using this recipe again. Please pardon the crappy picture, it was getting late by the time I made these.

Marinated Steak Tips

• 1/2 cup Italian dressing
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup barbeque sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 pound steak tips

Combine all the ingredients except steak tips in a medium bowl, mix well. Place the meat in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour.

Preheat grill to high heat. Brush grill lightly with oil to prevent sticking. Place steak tips on the grill and grill 10 minutes each side, or to desired doneness. I grilled mine on a stove-top grill over medium heat.