Steak au Poivre
I had my first steak (that I can remember) when I was in my mid 20's. I was a vegetarian for four years when I was younger and then didn't eat any red meat for another ten years. That aside, steak was never a big thing in my house when I was growing up. I can't recall a single time when steak was served as I sat munching my veggie alternative. Anyway, it took a few years but eventually Weepix managed to show me why such a simple meal is viewed with such reverence.
Tonight we have a couple of inch thick sirloin steaks from Isola farm (via Feather and Bone). The beef comes from grass fed Chianina cows and is hung for five weeks before sale to improve the flavour. It's not a cheap steak but you sure as hell know where the extra money went when you taste it. I'd rather eat one of these every six months than a poorer quality steak on a weekly basis. No contest.
More often than not I just cook my steak and eat it, maybe with some mustard or horseradish but often with nothing at all. Sometimes I fancy something a bit fancier and I'll get some beef stock out the freezer and make a red wine or green peppercorn sauce. This recipe (if you can call it that) is somewhere between the two.
- Steaks - fillet is traditional but I prefer cuts with a bit more fat.
- White and black peppercorns (I only have black just now)
- Salt
- Butter
- Brandy
Word of warning - this can get a little smoky so turn on the extractor and/or open the windows.
Lightly crack a couple of tablespoons of peppercorns in a mortar, just so they split apart a bit you don't need to pulverise them. Sieve the pepper to get rid of the powdery fines and tip half the cracked corns onto a plate with some flakes of salt. Lay the steaks on top and then sprinkle the rest of the cracked pepper over the top with another pinch of salt. When it looks like you've got too much pepper on there then you're about good to go. Get a pan good and hot and add a couple of spoons of sunflower oil. For steaks an inch think I do them for about two minutes on each side and they come out rare but not cold in the middle. Remove from the pan and put them on a warmed plate. If you've bothered to spend cash on decent steak then cooking it past medium is pointless. If you want well done steak then save yourself some cash and just buy the cheap stuff.
While the steaks rest a little add about 30g (two decent lumps) of butter to the pan and let it melt and froth, scraping all the tasty black bits as you go. A minute is more than enough. Now add a good slug of brandy and give the pan a final scrape. Take the pan from the heat and then return the steaks to the brandy and butter, turning them to get a good coating. Plate up the steaks with a crispy skinned baked potato and pour over the rest of the buttery sauce. If you're throwing caution to the wind you can put some sour cream on the potato but it doesn't really need it and it means you have to run twice as far the next day. A few lettuce leaves on the side are also pretty good.....especially when they get covered in the butter and brandy.
Grab a decent bottle of cab or shiraz to go with it and you're sorted.
