Laura the Gastronaut > Julia Child > Meat > Filet Steaks with Foie Gras, Truffles, and Madeira Sauce

Tournedos Rossini

March 17, 2020 | Updated September 1, 2023 | Laura

✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽

Julia Child Recipes 84-85 | 443 recipes to go!

✽ Tournedos Rossini [Filet Steaks with Foie Gras, Truffles, and Madeira Sauce], p. 299
✽ Laitues Braisées [Braised Lettuce], p. 489

__________________________________

✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)

The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.

Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.

I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!

__________________________________

✽ Butter Count: +13 TB

✽ Cost: $119.72 [~$19.95 per serving]

- Filet Steaks with Foie Gras, Truffles, and Madeira Sauce= $104.62 [6 servings]
- Braised Lettuce= $15.10 [6 servings]

Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!

→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!

Since we are currently on a budget while trying to pay down some of our student loans, this meal caused us to eat poor the rest of the week. However, it was worth it. I ordered the canned foie gras online because we could not find it anywhere. I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted quite similar to the real deal. Of course, fresh truffles and foie gras would’ve made this meal absolutely perfect.

As for the lettuce- At the end of the day, this is still lettuce to me, but I would gladly eat this again. Although, I will say it did not look too appetizing. I felt it did accompany the steak well and the braising liquid is really delicious. I left the carrots and onions in the braising on accident because I missed the strain part. I wasn’t too sad about this because the carrots were just as delicious!

Looking for more Julia Child beef recipes to read about?

→ Check out all of the meat recipes that I've completed so far!

I was also surprised at how simple this elegant dish was to make. I was comparing to the previous filet steak recipe I made which took me hours and caused me a mental breakdown. I’m not sure if I was just more prepared this time around or if it really is an easier recipe, but a win is a win.

I love how this recipe is laid out as well. Each main ingredient is in its own section and the time it takes to cook is listed so you can (hopefully) prepare everything to finish at the same time.

✽ Step 1: Prepare Artichokes

To begin this recipe, artichoke bottoms that were previously cooked in a blanc (flour/water mixture) are cut into two and seasoned with salt, pepper, and melted butter. Fifteen minutes before serving, place into a preheated oven.

✽ Step 2: Prepare Foie Gras

Next, the foie gras slices are basted with Madeira and beef bouillon. Ten minutes before serving, place bowl over simmering water.

✽ Step 3: Prepare Truffles

The truffle slices and their juice are placed in a saucepan with Madeira, pepper, and butter. Five minutes before serving, warm over low heat.

✽ Step 4: Saute Steaks

Lastly, the steaks are prepared in the same manner as the previous filet steak recipes and seasoned with salt and pepper.

✽ Step 5: Make Sauce

Now to my favorite part of all Julia meals- the sauce. Pour out the fat from the steak skillet and pour in bouillon and the juices from the foie gras and truffles. Boil the liquid down to half while scraping up all that goodness that stuck to the bottom of the pan from the steaks. Pour in a cornstarch/Madeira mixture and simmer for a minute, correct seasoning, and swirl in the enrichment butter.

✽ Step 6: Serve

Pour the sauce all over the steaks. To assemble the plates, put the artichoke bottom on the plate, place the sauced steak on top, then a slice of foie gras, and lastly top with truffles.

How to Make Braised Lettuce

The book suggested braised lettuce to be served as a side so that’s what I did. Julia admits that boiled lettuce can be “dreadfully uninteresting” but braised lettuce is marvelous!

✽ Step 1: Trim Lettuce

You start by trimming the stems of the heads of lettuce and plunging them in cold water in order to remove all the traces of sand. DO THIS A LOT. I thought I plunged enough, but we could still taste some grit. Womp womp.

✽ Step 2: Boil Lettuce

Next plunge the heads into boiling salted water, bring back to a boil, and boil slowly for about 4 minutes until the heads have wilted. Then remove and plunge once again into some cold water for about 2-3 minutes to stop the cooking. The heads are squeezed until all the water is removed (that’s a strange sentence..).

Slice them in half lengthwise, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and fold them in half to make a fat triangle.

✽ Step 3: Simmer Bacon

Next simmer bacon and the bacon rind in water for 10 minutes, drain, rinse in cold water, and dry.

✽ Step 4: Cook Onions & Carrots

In a casserole, cook onions and carrots slowly in butter until tender. Place the lettuce triangles into the casserole closely pressed against each other and spread the vegetables over the lettuce and then the bacon/rind.

✽ Step 5: Cook in Oven

About 2 cups of bouillon is needed to barely cover the lettuce and a herb bouquet consisting of parsley, thyme, and bay leaf is also added. Place buttered paper of the lettuce, cover the casserole, and place in the oven. The lettuce will need to cook for 1 ½ hours so plan ahead!

✽ Step 6: Make Sauce

After time is up, remove the lettuce and boil down the liquid until it is a syrup. Lastly, swirl in the enrichment butter, strain over the lettuce, and sprinkle with minced parsley.

__________________________________

Edit: These pictures are.. not great. I apologize. When making these early recipes I was working in an extremely tiny kitchen that had pratically zero counter space and very poor lighting. My only saving grace was that somebody once had one of those pull-out cutting boards installed. What a life saver.

I was also in pharmacy school, getting minimal sleep, working for free, completely broke, didn't know the first thing about taking photos, and knew practically nothing about French cooking (or cooking in general for that matter).

I've debated taking these old posts down but decided to keep them up because they are all a part of my journey. These photos and my written struggles remind me how far I've come. I can pretty much make some of these base recipes in my sleep now!

You don't need fancy equipment or the finest ingredients to enjoy cooking and make good food. As one of my favorite cartoon characters, Ms. Frizzle, says, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"

*This blog, Laura the Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.

Category: Julia Child, Beef, Vegetables Cuisine: French
Keywords: julia child tournedos rossini, julia child braised lettuce, french steak recipes, lettuce side dish

✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.

More Beef Recipes:

✽ Tournedos Henri IV (filet steaks served with artichoke bottoms and bearnaise sauce)
✽ Tournedos Sautes aux Champignons (filet steaks topped with a mushroom and madeira sauce)
✽ Steak au Poivre (delicious steak covered in peppercorns)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child meat recipes!

✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!

Bon appétit!

March 17, 2020 by Laura Ehlers

*This Tournedos Rossini blog post may contain Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.