Filet Mignon with Porcini Mushroom Compound Butter

When I get a craving for steak--which, thankfully, isn't terribly frequent--I nearly always pick filet mignon to satisfy me.  Why?  It's a small cut and oh-so-wonderfully tender when cooked properly--just right for my appetite!  I was in the mood to find something different to do instead of my usual go-to, the red wine reduction sauce.  After playing around on Google a bit, I came across this recipe and so very glad I did!

Original recipe is in this blog entry:
http://www.foodiecrush.com/2014/03/filet-mignon-with-porcini-mushroom-compound-butter/
This recipe uses another of my favorite ingredients: porcini mushrooms.  I buy them dried, in bulk because I like them so much and they are a tad costly otherwise.

The original recipe was done for 2 steaks; in my pictures, you will see 4 steaks, which were like 2 larger/thicker ones cut in halves.  Because I was making more portions, I used twice the amounts in the original recipe for the steaks part.

Ingredients
For the porcini butter:
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms, divided
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. (1 stick) salted butter, softened/room temp
1 tsp. kosher salt

For the steaks:
2 filet mignon steaks
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
12 sprigs fresh thyme
kosher salt and coarse ground pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. butter

Instructions
For the porcini butter:
1.  Measure boiling water in a bowl and add 8 to 10 whole dried mushrooms to the water.  Cover and allow mushrooms to soak for at least 15 minutes.  (I usually just microwave the water in a covered glass dish to boil it and this time, since I only had small pieces of mushrooms, put in my best guess for an amount of mushrooms, and I am also guessing on the water amount):

2. Remove the mushrooms from the soaking water, gently squeezing the water from the mushrooms when doing so.  Reserve the mushroom water if desired for later use in gravies, etc.  The original recipe calls for chopping the mushrooms, but I had no need for that since mine were already in pieces.

3. Place remaining mushrooms in spice/coffee grinder and grind to fine powder.  The original recipe measured this part; I did not.

4. Cut up butter in smaller chunks and place in food processor (use metal blade for processing):

5. Add the ground mushrooms, half of the reconstituted mushrooms, and salt to the food processor.  Process until well mixed and butter is smooth:

6. The original recipe indicates to roll the butter into a log shape.  Mine was too soft for such a proposition, and the only reason that would be necessary is for appearance.  Since I didn't care about that, I just formed mine into a slab shape.  The remaining reconstituted mushrooms go on top, then cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes.  My compound butter came out looking like this, which I thought was just fine:

For the steaks:
Preheat oven broiler on HI.
1. Season the steaks with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat a cast iron pan on stovetop over medium high heat.  Add butter and olive oil, melt and stir together to coat pan, then add steaks:

(after this, I did it a bit differently from the original recipe on the preparation)

2. Cook steaks about 2 minutes per side, then add sprigs of thyme and some garlic to go underneath each steak:

3. Cook steaks until just under desired doneness.  Top with generous pats of porcini compound butter and place in oven; broil for a couple of minutes--just until butter has melted over (watch attentively!).  Remove steaks and serve immediately:

In the picture at the beginning of the entry, the steak is served with rosemary potatoes; I shall post the recipe for those soon!  I ended up with plenty of butter leftover, too, which meant I had to make this a second time (oh, darn lol).  Enjoy!