Bison Tenderloin Tower

Brent and I rarely have “date nights”. Sure, we go out to eat almost every week but never really a date. Finally this past weekend we decided to do just that and went to have dinner at our favorite little sushi restaurant up the street from our house. One of our favorite rolls there is called the CowTown Roll – waygu beef, spring mix, cilantro, red onion, jalapeno and ponzu sauce. As soon as we’d eaten it, I knew I had to try it at home.

My intention was never to make a hand roll. All along I knew I wanted to take a tower approach instead, and I think it turned out quite well. We couldn’t find a good piece of waygu beef we liked at Central Market so we chose to use a bison tenderloin instead – and boy am I glad we did! Rich, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, mmmmmmmm! Brent actually let me grill this and believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.

Bison Tenderloin Tower

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

1lb bison tenderloin

½ cup soy sauce

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. sherry vinegar

¼ cup minced garlic

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 cup minced red onion

1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, minced

1 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Ponzu sauce, for drizzling

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine your soy sauce, mustard, vinegar and garlic and mix well. Put your tenderloin in a baggie and pour marinade over the top. Seal the air out and let rest in the fridge for one hour, then take out of the fridge and let come to room temperature while you heat up your grill.

Bring your grill to 650°F. Sear your bison tenderloin for two minutes per side, flipping twice, for a total of six minutes. On your last flip, shut your grill down completely and let rest in the hot grill for five minutes, then remove from the heat and let rest for five more minutes. Slice thinly.

To assemble your tower, use any wide cylindrical object – I used an old plastic cup and cut the narrow end off. Place one cup of cooked rice in the bottom of your tower, followed by half of your red onion and half of your jalapeno. Gently remove your shaper and lay half of your grilled bison around the tower. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and drizzle with ponzu.

Enjoy! KC