If you’re like me, you need a pretty good excuse to spend nine bucks a pound for a hunk of meat. Here it is: Phyllis Gimbel’s scrumptious and cinchy roast beef. Invite your best beau or lady and another couple for a double date, or hog the whole thing for just the two of you. Fluffy baked potatoes and Asparagus ASAP are suitably stylish, no-fuss accompaniments.

Roast Tenderloin of Beef with Horseradish Cream
Karyl Bannister, Cook & Tell

1 3-pound beef tenderloin, trimmed of all fat and silverskin (see Note)* at room temperature
3-4 garlic cloves, halved vertically
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
Freshly gound black pepper
Horseradish Cream

Preheat the oven to 500°.

Using a small, sharp knife, make little slits here and there along the top of the tenderloin and stuff each slit with a garlic half. Spread the butter all over the tenderloin and sprinkle it with pepper to taste.

Put the tenderloin in a roasting pan—but not on a rack. Put the pan in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 450°. Roast for 45 minutes. That’s it. No matter the size of the tenderloin, the time and temperature are the same.

Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with Horseradish Cream.

Serves 12.

Horseradish Cream
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup prepared horseradish

Whip the cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold in the horseradish and serve with the tenderloin.

Makes 2½ cups.

*Note: Have the butcher remove the silverskin. Or make very shallow cuts across the silverskin every inch or so along the edge of the tenderloin, as you would score the fat on the edge of a steak to keep it from curling. I have the butcher tie the tenderloin for fairly round slices.

Karyl Bannister writes and illustrates the newsletter Cook & Tell, published ten times a year.