Cook with Toucan

Beef steak with creamy pepper sauce

This sauce is very universal – you can use it to beef, pork and chicken meat. And it is spicy...that’s why it belongs to my most favourite sauces. It can seem that this dish is very simple. And it is...when you know what to do. For the first time, I forgot to remove cream from fridge and I left the meat too long in the aluminium foil. The sauce curdled and the meat was cooked “well done”. For the second time the dish was perfect! Avoid my mistakes and cook dish, with which you amaze all your friends.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• beef slices (2 pcs, weight to taste) (Tips ↓1)
  • I often cook steaks from round beef
  • wash well and dry (with kitchen towel)
  • you have to cut meat against the grain (Tips ↓2)
  • the high of steaks approx. 2 – 3 cm (0,8 – 1,2 in.)
• ground pepper (to taste)
• oil (3 tbsp.)
• salt (to taste, to season the meat)

• white wine (50 ml = 0,09 pt. UK = 1/4 cup)
  • I use Pinot Gris
• cream (200 ml = 0,35 pt. UK = 1/2 and 1/3 cups) (Tips ↓3)
  • I use 12% cream
• Dijon mustard (1 tsp.)
• pickled green peppercorns (3 – 4 tsp.)
• salt (to taste, to season the sauce)

Preparation:

• pepper (to taste) the beef slices
• heat oil (3 tbsp.) in the pan and sauté all meat slices
• it depends on your taste, somebody likes rare steak, the other well done steak
• I prefer medium rare or rare steak, so I quickly sauté the meat from all sides
• then pack meat in aluminium foil to stay warm (Tips ↓4)

• turn temperature down
• pour white wine into gravy
• reduce to 1/2 of the volume
• pour cream
• add Dijon mustard (1 tsp.)
• add pickled green peppercorns (3 – 4 tsp.)
• squash a little bit corns with fork and cook
• when sauce becomes thicker, it is done

• unpack the meat
• pour the gravy from meat into sauce
• add salt to the sauce to taste
• then salt the meat to taste
• serve warm, in ideal case with roasted potatoes or French Fries

Tips:

1. How to find the right meat for steaks? If you poke meat with finger and you see that stayed a dimple here, the meat is perfect. If the meat quickly restore to its original state, it is poorly ripened and you have to marinate it. In this case salt and pepper the slices. Pour some oil into small plastic box, add meat, pour more oil and cover with lid. You can add some herbs (e. g. rosemary or thyme). Marinate for at least 3 – 4 nights.
2. You have to cut meat against grain. You can see in the picture below, how to do it.
3. Very important! Cream has to have room temperature. Don’t forget to remove it from fridge. When I cooked this dish for the first time, I did exactly this elementary mistake. Don’t do the same. Otherwise the sauce will curdle.
4. If you have rare steak and you pack it in the aluminium foil, you will have medium rare. If you have medium steak and you pack it in the aluminium foil, you will have well done. The longer you leave the meat in the aluminium foil, the more it will be done.