Steak au Poivre

I made the following recipe last night at the Cafe:

Steak au Poivre with Red Wine Pan Sauce

- 4 boneless beef sirloin steaks (at least 1 inch thick)
- Salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- olive oil
- 1 T unsalted butter
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 cup beef stock or broth
- 1 T tomato paste
- 1 T cornstarch combined with 2 T water
- 2 T freshly chopped parsley

Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Cover the steaks and let them stand at room temperature for an hour or so before cooking.

In a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the steaks and cook to desired doneness, turning once, 3-5 minutes a side for medium rare. Remove the steaks from the pan and transfer them to a platter. Loosely cover with aluminum foil while you make the pan sauce.

In the same pan over medium high heat, add the butter and melt. Add onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is softened (2-3 minutes). Add the wine and beef stock/broth and boil until reduced by half, 4-5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, whisk in the cornstarch mixture and the tomato paste and simmer, whisking occasionally until slightly thickened. Add more stock if the sauce seems too thick. Stir in the parsley and season to taste.

Spoon a generous amount of the sauce over the steaks and serve at once. Pass any extra sauce at the table.

It was a yummy dish, but next time I make it, I will use more onions and less tomato paste.