As I was thinking about dinners for this week, I knew that I wanted one of the dishes to include steak. With a multi-day stretch of rain forecast, grilling was a less desirable option. Pan-frying the steaks seemed like a simple way to make dinner on an evening that was most likely to be filled with taking children to and from practices.
Although pan-frying on its own would have been okay, I wanted to make a dinner with a bit more flavor. Searching through my cookbooks, I found several different recipes for Steak au Poivre. This dish had a variety of options for its sauce. Some used butter for richness, others used heavy cream. I took elements from several recipes and created my own recipe that was lighter than all of the recipes I saw.
As luck would have it, the day I decided to make this dish was rainy, which caused the cancellation of one child’s practice. With no transporting of children needed until 7:00 pm, we had the opportunity to enjoy a more leisurely dinner. With steaks cooked to everyone’s preference (medium well for the girls and medium for the boys) and topped with a lightly creamy sauce, dinner was an enjoyable meal that didn’t need to be rushed.
For another easy steak recipe, check out this one for steak and cheese pockets.
- 2 pounds top sirloin, cut into 4 1-inch steaks
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
- salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup Cognac
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- cornstarch
- Press pepper into both sides of each steak.
- Sprinkle salt onto one side of each steak.
- Heat large frying pan over medium heat, and add butter.
- When butter is melted, place steaks in pan.
- Cook for 6 minutes, flip steaks and cook for an additional 6 minutes. (This amount of time should produce medium steaks. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.)
- Remove steaks from pan, place on plate, and cover with foil.
- Remove pan from heat, and add cognac and broth.
- Return to heat, and stir to combine.
- Add milk and mustard, and bring to boiling.
- Sprinkle a pinch or two of cornstarch on sauce, and continue stirring.
- Allow to boil for approximately 5 minutes, or until sauce thickens.
- Serve steaks topped with several tablespoons of sauce.
