Strip Steak with Peppercorn Sauce

Sooo, I was thinking we were going to grill these steaks this evening, until the hubby got a load of the incredible arctic wind blowing outside. I decided to make steak with peppercorn sauce, kind of on the fly. I've used this recipe for pork tenderloin as well, whatsever!

You will need:

1 lb striploin steak (take out of the fridge an hour before)

Kosher salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 Tbsp cracked peppercorns

1/2 onion, chopped finely

1/4 c cognac or brandy (I used whiskey because that's all I had)

1 c beef stock or broth

1/4 c whipping cream (plus more as necessary)

Not pictured: onions

To do your prep, get out a roasting pan with a rack and some tin foil. Take your steaks out of the fridge and sprinkle with kosher salt. I am making my supper with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus, so I am scrubbing the potatoes, cutting out the eyes, chopping them up and putting them in a pot of cold water to boil. I am also de-skinning 5 garlic cloves to throw in at the last minute.

Back to the steak! Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet or solid-bottomed pan until it is very, very hot. Pat your steaks dry (the salt is going to draw moisture out and that may impair the steak's ability to brown) and place them in the very, very hot pan. Don't crowd the pan, so do it in batches if you need to. Crowding causes stewing and that is a terrible thing to do to a nice striploin. Leave it there for at least 4 minutes, until it will move freely when you try to pick it up.

Flip the steaks when they do pull off easily, turn the heat down to medium high. This will give you one crusty nummy side and one side that you can use to control how well done you want it. When the steaks are cooked how you like (check using your fingers. that's right, poke those suckers), place them on the rack in the roasting pan and cover both sides with the cracked pepper.

Not the crusty side

Cover with tented tinfoil and leave to rest. If you were like me, at this point you could potentially cut up some cauliflower, rinse it and put it in with the potatoes! In theory. Then you could cut a third off the bottom of your asparagus and rinse it also before placing it in your steamer basket.

Like zo

You may get a bit of over-browning on the bottom of the pan, manage your heat. I did batches and the first bit got a leetle dark, but ended up fine.

What the cooking teacher at NAIT called "carmellization"

When you are done all the steaks, cook the onions for 2 minutes until soft. Remove the pan from heat and pour in the booze. Return to the heat and use a flat wooden spoon to scrape up the lovely brown "carmellization" on the bottom of the pan. When the liquor is almost all gone, pour in the beef stock. Boil that until it is reduced enough to leave a trail going through the middle when you drag your flat spoon across. I am also going to add the garlic to my potatoes at this point and start steaming the asparagus.

Sorry, little steamy!

Add the whipping cream and boil it until it reduces to the same point, able to draw a gap across the middle. Add in the rest of the cracked black pepper, taste and add more whipping cream and / or salt as required.

This is where I mashed the potatoes with butter, then added salt, pepper and more garlic powder. You always want to do fat before milk, whether it is margarine or butter. I am also heating a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. I am going to take the steamed asparagus and toss it lightly in the heated olive oil pan and sprinkle it with some pepper and kosher salt.

And this is what I end up with

Near!