STEAK AU POIVRE W/ RED WINE AND CHERRY PAN SAUCE ON CELERIAC PURÉE

45 min

Ready in

20 min

Prep time

2

Servings

Steak au poivre with red wine and cherry pan sauce on celeriac puree with watercress salad. I was told by my fiancée that we never eat steak. Not true! Well… actually maybe that’s quite accurate. So I got thinking… I’ll show her… I’ll make her the best steak dish she’s ever had!

I have to admit, it was pretty damn good. The spiciness from the peppercorns… the sweet and acidity from the sauce… the savoury silky deliciousness from the celeriac puree, with a touch of freshness from the watercress. Delicious.

Wine pairing: We ate the steak au poivre with an amazing 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella. Alternative pairings could be Bordeaux blends, California Cab Sauv’s, Rhône wines, and perhaps even a nice Pinot Noir.

Ingredients

  • Steak au poivre
    • 2 New York Strip Loins (on the thicker end)
    • 2 tbsp green peppercorns
    • 2 tbsp white peppercorns
    • 1/4 cup black peppercorns
    • 1/2 cup dried cherries
    • 1/2 cup heavy cream
    • 1/2 cup beef or veal demi glace
    • 2 cups red wine
    • 2 tbsp Cognac or Brandy
    • parsley
  • Celeriac puree
    • 2 lbs celery root (peeled and cubed)
    • 8 garlic cloves
    • 1/2 medium onion
    • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
    • 1/4 cup heavy cream
    • 2-3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • Watercress

Instructions

Celeriac puree
  1. Peel and cube the celery root, dice the onion, peel garlic cloves and place in a saucepot.
  2. Pour stock into saucepot. If you need more liquid to cover the veggies, simply add water.
  3. Bring to boil and simmer for roughly 15 mins, or until celery root is tender.
  4. Drain and reserve about 1/2 cup of the stock.
  5. Pour 1/4 cup of the stock back into the saucepot and add the butter, adding the vegetables as well. Puree the vegetables – add salt to taste (add leftover 1/4 stock as needed for consistency of puree).
  6. Top with parsley (if you want).
Watercress salad
  1. Remove larger stalks from watercress and place into a bowl.
  2. Drizzle with olive oil and top with salt and pepper. Toss.
Steak au poivre
  1. Combine green, white, and black peppercorns in a ziplock bag and crush the peppercorns (try not to leave any peppercorns whole).
  2. Salt both sides of each steak and coat both sides with crushed peppercorn mix.
  3. Oil a pan and set to medium high. Note that the pan needs to be quite hot – you should see a little smoke start to come off of the oiled pan (but not too much as to burn the oil).
    • At this point, you’ll start your pan sauce. Place dried cherries into a separate pan and pour the red wine overtop. Place on medium heat.
  4. Slowly set each steak in the pan away from you, so that the oil does not splash towards you. Let the steaks sear for 3-4 minutes, then flip and let sear for another 3-4 minutes to get a nice brown crust on each side (don’t pull the steak off the pan to check your sear! Let them be).
  5. Place the steaks on a baking rack to rest. Place them in the over to keep warm.
Pan sauce
  1. Pour off the oil from the steak pan and set back on burner.
  2. Pour the red wine and cherries into the old steak pan to deglaze.
  3. Reduce the wine then add demi-glace. Once the sauce has thickened a bit, pour in the heavy cream and set to medium-low heat.
  4. Let the sauce reduce until it thickly coats the back of a spoon.. Note that if you have reduced your sauce too much, simply just add more cream.
Plating
  1. Slice your steaks into roughly 8 pieces, angled.
  2. Spoon your celeriac puree and smear across the plate.
  3. Set the steak down on top of the puree.
  4. Set a handful of watercress next to the steak.
  5. Pour sauce onto the steak, puree, and salad, as your heart desires.

Bon Appétit!