Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin & White Wine Asiago Risotto

You can’t beat a classic steak, and when cooked sous vide (french for “under vacuum”), they turn out perfectly. They’re nearly impossible to over cook, and I guarantee steaks cooked sous vide are the most tender, flavorful steaks you’ll ever had. Bonus: you can cook multiple steaks at the same time to the same perfect temperature, making this a great meal to serve when you’re feeding a larger crowd. I love adding herbs to my steaks while they’re cooking – once done, they have the most amazingly delicious subtle herby flavor. Pair them with risotto and you have the perfect meal.

This meal is incredibly easy, and allowing the steaks to cook slowly gives you time to prepare sides and set your table. For me, timing the various parts of a meal is one of the more difficult parts of cooking or entertaining, so this meal is definitely a go-to. The hardest part is being patient while the risotto cooks 😉

Cooking sous vide allows you to maintain a consistent cooking temperature, allowing for a slower cooking time and giving your flavors a chance to really develop. While it does require extra equipment, it’s definitely worth it. If you don’t have a sous vide stick yet, they are relatively inexpensive, and can be used for so many different dishes, from egg bites, to fish, to creme brûlée. While I use a special sous vide cooking container and a vacuum sealer, you can use any deep pot and zip loc bags instead.

This is the set-up I have:

What You’ll Need

For the steaks, you’ll need your favorite cut of beef (I use tenderloin), butter, salt & pepper, rosemary & thyme.

For the risotto, you’ll need butter, shallots, garlic, arborio rice, dry white white (I use pinot grigio), vegetable or chicken broth, parsley and asiago cheese (not pictured – oops!)

Getting Started

Preheat your sous vide bath to 133.5 degrees F for medium rare steaks. If you prefer a different temperature, a break down is listed with the recipe, but I recommend medium rare. This is the most flavorful and tender temperature for steaks, and if you are using high quality meat, you definitely don’t want to over cook your steaks.

While the sous vide bath is heating up, pat the steaks dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides.

Top each steak with a pat of butter, about 1/2 a tablespoon each.

Add a generous amount of rosemary and thyme to each steak.

Place the steaks into a vacuum bag. If you are cooking a large quantity, split the steaks between a few bags, ensuring the bags will fit in your water bath, vacuum and remove the air. If you don’t have vacuum bags, you can use zip loc bags and remove as much air as possible. You can submerge the bags into the water to help force the air out, the more air you can remove, the better the bags will stay submerged. Be sure to seal well.

Once the water has come to temperature, add the bagged steaks. Be sure to completely submerge. If you used vacuum sealed bags, you should have no issue keeping them submerged. If you are using zip locs, it can be helpful to put something heavy on top of the bags to keep them submerged.

Cook for at least an hour, but the beauty of sous vide is you cannot overcook the meat at this point. However, try to leave the steaks in the bath not much longer than 2 or so hours. Meanwhile, make the risotto.

Make Risotto

About 30 minutes before you plan to serve the steaks, bring broth to a simmer and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. You will want to keep the broth warm for the entire process.

Once the butter is melted and foaming, add the shallots and cook until translucent and starting to caramelize, about 3-5 minutes.

Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the rice, stir well, and then toast until rice begins to look slightly translucent and browned slightly.

Add the white wine and let cook, undisturbed, until fully absorbed.

Add broth, about one cup at a time (or until the rice is just covered), until it is creamy, but still has a slight bite. Do NOT stir your risotto and be very patient – the key to a good risotto is patience. Each time you add the broth, allow it to fully absorb before adding more. If you must, stir the risotto only when you are adding more both. I like to taste the risotto (with a clean tasting spoon) before each addition of broth to ensure I don’t over or under cook it.

Once the risotto is al dente, but creamy. Add the asiago, parsley, and salt & pepper.

Stir well to combine.

Finish Steaks

As you near the end of the steak cooking time, heat a cast iron skillet over high heat until screaming hot.

Remove the cooked steaks from their cooking bags.

The butter will have melted, remove and discard the herbs.

Once your cast iron is hot, and I mean screaming hot, add about 2 tablespoons of butter and melt. Add steaks and sear until browned, about 2 minutes on each side. Be careful not to leave steaks on the skillet too long, or they can cook beyond your desired temperature.

Plate the Steak & Risotto

Allow steaks to rest for 5-10 minutes, then plate as pictured below, garnish with extra parsley.

Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin & White Wine Asiago Risotto

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

Steak

4 cuts of beef tenderloin
2 tablespoons of butter
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Thyme
Rosemary

Risotto

1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine (like pinto grigio)
4-6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Instructions

Preheat sous vide bath to 333.5 degrees F for medium rare steaks. For other temperatures, please see chart below.
Pat steaks dry with a paper towel and season all over with salt and pepper.
Add about 1/2 tablespoon of butter to each steak, top with a generous amount of rosemary and thyme. No need to remove from stems.
Add steaks to a vacuum or zip loc bag, remove as much air as possible and seal well.
Once water has come to temperature, add bagged steaks and cook for at least an hour, but not more than 2. Ensure steaks are completely submerged. If you used zip loc bags, you may need to weigh the bags down.
Meanwhile, prepare the risotto.
About 30 minutes before you plan to serve the steaks, bring broth to a simmer and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. You will want to keep the broth warm for the entire process.
Once the butter is melted and foaming, add the shallots and cook until translucent and starting to caramelize, about 3-5 minutes.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the rice, stir well, and then toast until rice begins to look slightly translucent and browned slightly.
Add the white wine and let cook, undisturbed, until fully absorbed.
Add broth, about one cup at a time (or until the rice is just covered), until it is creamy, but still has a slight bite. Do NOT stir your risotto and be very patient – the key to a good risotto is patience. Each time you add the broth, allow it to fully absorb before adding more. If you must, stir the risotto only when you are adding more both. I like to taste the risotto (with a clean tasting spoon) before each addition of broth to ensure I don’t over or under cook it.
Once the risotto is al dente, but creamy. Add the asiago, parsley, and salt & pepper. Stir well to combine.
As you near the end of the steak cooking time, heat a cast iron skillet over high heat until screaming hot.
Remove the cooked steaks from their cooking bags. The butter will have melted, remove and discard the herbs.
Once your cast iron is hot, and I mean screaming hot, add about 2 tablespoons of butter and melt. Add steaks and sear until browned, about 2 minutes on each side. Be careful not to leave steaks on the skillet too long, or they can cook beyond your desired temperature.
Allow steaks to rest for 5-10 minutes, then plate risotto and steaks, garnish with chopped parsley.