Steak au Poivre (Page 426)

RECIPE #944

• Date: Monday, February 2, 2009 -- 8pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

A few weeks ago, my special gentleman said, "I could go for some steak." He doesn't often make specific requests, so I would have been happy to humor him, but we didn't have any steak in the house. In fact the only protein we had were shrimp. So instead of making him steak, I made him a not-great shrimp salad (which, really, is nothing like steak). Afterwards, I thought, "Well that wasn't nearly as good as steak," and went rummaging through The Book for a steak recipe. It turned out there was one (and only one!) left, and it was this one. So I bought the ingredients and made it a few days later. How I made it through 3 years of this project without making Steak au Poivre is a mystery to me. I love steak. In particular, I love Steak au Poivre. Yet, somehow, I hadn't made it. Very mysterious.

Actually I was noticing the other day that when I flip through The Book lately, much of what's left seems to fall into one of two categories: One, food that sounds really bad to me (e.g. Tongue with Mustard Horseradish Sauce or Creamed Turnips), or two, food that sounds really excellent (e.g. Steak au Poivre or Roasted Apple Strudels). I think, without realizing it, I left myself some gems to keep me motivated. I knew there was Steak au Poivre in The Book, but every time I considered making it, I decided to save it for later. Until now!

I started by coarsely crushing some black peppercorns, then I rubbed the pepper all over two New York strips steaks. I let them sit at room temperature for an hour, then I heated vegetable oil and butter in a skillet until hot. I cooked the steaks in the skillet until they were medium rare. Then while I let the steaks rest I poured off the fat from the skillet, added butter and shallots, cooked them for a couple minutes then added Cognac. After boiling for a few minutes, I added heavy cream and cooked until thick. I seasoned the sauce and served it over the steaks. In a word: yum! Wow, these steaks were good. This was a great example of how a simple dish can truly shine. We started with some nice steaks from the butcher shop, and with just some salt and crushed peppercorns they came out fantastically flavorful. The sauce was also delicious. It had a great consistency, and a rich flavor that was cut nicely by the booziness of the Cognac. This was a super-simple steak preparation that did not disappoint! Yum! Hopefully I will stumble accross more gems like this one that I have left in The Book!

This exact recipe isn't online, but it is quite similar to this one.