Here is my version of Bobby Flay's Filet Mignon with Red Chile Sauce recipe.
Cooking the filet's was pretty straight forward. He did his on the grill and I used my cast iron skillet. Season the filets with salt, pepper and ground cumin. Place the filets in a hot skillet with about a tbs of oil and cook on both sides for about a minute and a half. Place the skillet in a 425F oven for about 10 minutes until medium rare as determined by the finger test. After you spoon the sauce over the filets, place a slice of goat cheese on top and use a blow torch to melt and brown the cheese. I used a Benzomatic MAPP gas torch but I'm sure there are more kitchen friendly models around ;)
For the chile sauce, seed all the peppers then toast them in a hot iron skillet for about 30 seconds per side. Be careful here as they will burn easily. Saute the onions and garlic in a medium saucepan until soft then add the chicken stock and peppers and simmer on medium low for 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon transfer the peppers and onions to a food processor then add 2 cups of the chicken stock and process until smooth. Pour this chile sauce into a medium hot saute pan snd simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Remove the saute pan from the heat and stir in the creme fraiche and maple syrup.
As for the red chile sauce, my peppers looked smaller so I used an extra ancho and New Mexico chili. I watched this episode on Food Network and he was ambiguous about how much of the stock liquid to add to the food processor so I added the stock until it looked right, about 2 cups.
The recipe says to strain the sauce but the picture on the Food Network site doesn't look strained. I have made this chili sauce a couple of times and I strained it the first time for a velvety smooth sauce. For this recipe I did not strain the sauce and it was a bit thicker which was also very nice.
The addition of the creme fraiche and maple syrup is a must as the sauce will have a raw unfinished taste without it. I was amazed at the price of pure maple syrup at $9.35 a bottle! Also creme fraiche is very hard to find so here are some substitutions. Use honey instead of pure maple syrup. For the creme fraiche use use 1/2 cup each of sour cream and whipping cream, let stand at room temperature for 12 hours then refrigerate.
What you will need for the chile sauce.
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 New Mexican red chiles, lightly toasted
2 quajillo chiles, lightly toasted
2 ancho chile, lightly toasted
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground pepper