Although panfrying 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 seemed to have a variety of options for its sauce- some using butter for richness, others using 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.
- 2 lb. top sirloin, cut into 4 1-inch steaks
- 1 Tb. freshly ground pepper
- salt
- 2 Tb. butter
- 1/4 cup Cognac
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp. 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.
