(As read and prepared by Dean Temple for the January 12, 2006 podcast)
Today’s recipe is a quicky, but a goody that I’ve thrown together because Alex is feeling sick and her voice is shot.
So, the classic Sunday comfort food quick main course.
Steak au poivre.
I use a straight-sided sautaé pan for this. The other ingredients I use are steak, a shallot, cream, butter, green pepper corns, bourbon, port, demi-glace if you have it, more butter if you don’t.
Sear the steak first on one side, then another, until it’s like you want. I generally aim for medium rare, and to be honest, I gauge it by touch.
The sautaé pan should be hotter than hades. If you don’t want to deal with clarified butter – and it’s really not that big a deal – just mix butter and a little cooking oil to keep it from smoking.
When the steak’s done, put it somewhere to keep it warm. I put it on a plate in the oven with the setting at – shock of shocks – warm.
Pour off the fat. Toss the diced shallot into the pan and let it just soften. Then pour in a couple tablespoons of bourbon and one tablespoon of port. Either burn off or cook off the alcohol, neither way takes all that long. At that point, add as much cream as you did bourbon, a fair chunk of butter and a tablespoon of green pepper corns. Cook that down to thicken it to your liking.
When it’s thick enough, what the heck, stir in more butter. Taste it. You will probably want to hit it with just a touch of wine vinegar for acidity. I do.
Pour on steak and eat. This is yummy with frites as you are no doubt aware, but I never know what to do with all that oil afterward. Last time I made this I ate it with – gasp – a salad. And some peasant bread to mop up all that yummy sauce. Told you it was quick.
Alex will be back next week, I promise.