Wednesday, June 18, 2008

"Yabba Dabba Do" -- Roasted Rib Steak with Golden Chanterelles, Pommes Anna, and Bordelaise Sauce

Look, I know I talk a lot about my boyfriend, bacon, and my other boyfriend, Mike Bloomberg. But there's a very good chance I might be cheating on both of them with my new boyfriend, Bordelaise Sauce. Oh my..... my heart is racing just thinking about it again. Let's just jump right in.

I started this dish a day before I wanted to serve it because you have to season your meat (*snerk*) and let it sit in the fridge on a plate for a day. Here's my double rib-cut steak (it's just over 2.5 lbs.):

An hour before cooking, I removed the steak from the refrigerator so it could come to room temperature.

Before that, however, I started working on the sauce and the Pommes Anna. Let's do the sauce first. Oh, the sauce.... THE SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!

I brought to a simmer some red wine, parsley, thyme, a bay leaf, shallots, carrots, mushrooms and garlic:

At the point when the liquid had nearly evaporated....

... I added veal stock and some peppercorns and simmered it for about 20 minutes:

After 20 minutes, the liquid had reduced to a sauce-like consistency, so I strained it into a smaller saucepan. It was during this 20-minute simmer that I fell madly in love with the deliciousness we call Bordelaise. Veal stock, wine, aromatics... oh, how you tempt me. Mom... Dad... meet your new future son-in-law, Bordelaise Sauce:

Of all the sauces I've ever made in my entire life, this is by far my greatest acheivement. I mean, LOOK AT IT! Have you ever seen anything so lovely? I know I go on and on about wanting to take a bath in certain foods, but this was above and beyond.

With the SAUCE! completed, it was time to move on to the Pommes Anna. I put some prunes in a small pot with chicken stock, brought it up to a simmer and cooked them for about 15 minutes.

The prunes were mushy and soft, so I minced them and mixed them with some minced shallots and some sel gris (grey salt).

I know it looks like doody, but believe me, it smelled amazing, and ended up tasting divine. But more on that later. Let's keep going with the potato dish.

I peeled and trimmed some Yukon Gold potatoes into a 2" cylinder-ish shape (I had to add the "-ish" because you'll see there's nary a smooth edge. More like a lopsided, art deco, hexagonal fandango sort of thing) and sliced them to about 1/16" thickness using my kickass Benriner mandoline.

I soaked the potato slices in cold water for a minute or two to get rid of some of the starchiness. While they were soaking, I skimmed the little instruction booklet than came with the mandoline. Of course, I've been using my mandoline for months now, and still had not yet read the instructions. (On a side note, I have also had my car for two years and have never read the manual. I'm awesome like that.) I had a few *snorts*snerks* when I skimmed this particular instruction manual, because I'm a big fan of seeing how things are translated. Get this:

"When vegetable becomes small, thrust it slowly by fixing your eyes on it with great care of your fingertips...." Um sure, Kreskin/Hugh Hefner, I'll get right on that.

Or this:

Typos and odd punctuation/grammar aside, that last sentence has to be one of the longest run-on sentences in the history of kitchen-tool translations. Wow.

So, the potatoes are sliced (not by the thrusting of my eyes, or whatever) and they've soaked, and the prune goop is done. Time to assemble.

First, I gently placed a potato slice in the center of an 8" skillet that had been brushed with clarified butter. Then, I made two layers of potatoes, salted them, added some of the prune mix, then two more layers, salted those, then prune mix, then a final layer of potatoes, which I brushed with clarified butter:

I put the skillet over a medium flame on the stovetop and let it cook for about 5 minutes. I then put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 45 minutes and the potatoes were starting to brown and get crisp.

I let this sit on the stovetop and the put it back in the oven for 10 minutes to rewarm it before serving it.

In the meantime, I made the steak. Let's take another look at that glorious piece of beef:

It had already been out of the fridge for a little over an hour when I patted it dry with paper towels and then kerplonked it into my saute pan with some canola oil already heated up and ready to go:

I seared it for four minutes on one side, then flipped it to sear the other side:

After a few minutes on that side, I took the steak out of the pan, poured off the canola oil, then added some butter to the pan before putting the steak back in it:

I put the steak in the butter-filled pan into a 450-degree oven and roasted it for about five minutes. Then, every five minutes for about 25 minutes, I flipped it and basted it with the melted butter and pan juices. Here's the finished meat, resting for a few minutes while I put the potatoes back in to reheat, and warmed the bordelaise sauce:


At this point, the book recommends sautéeing some chanterelles in butter and a little salt and pepper, but there were no chanterelles at the market, so I used oyster mushrooms instead. I like the taste of oyster mushrooms a little better, too, so this was an easy substitution.

Time for plating. I sliced the steak into half-inch slices, added some potatoes next to them, and topped it all with the mushrooms and the SAUCE!. It's not exactly going to be on the cover of a magazine any time soon, but hot damn, was this delicious:

Fantastic. Amazing. Delectable. Aromatic. Excellence on a Plate.

If you like meat and potatoes and want something hearty but not heavy, this is it. This dish was really outstanding, and honestly? Not all that difficult. Not only was the steak tender and good and the potatoes cooked through really nicely, I swear, you will want to marry this sauce when you taste it -- it's so complex and layered, but also so simple and pointed. The one thing about the potatoes that I would change for next time is somehow change the pruney-ness of the potatoes. I thought they were too prune-intense, but that's just my opinion. However, I was so thrilled to have some potatoes and sauce leftover for lunch the next day... and the smell of the reheated sauce made me the happiest camper around.

Up Next: "Banana Split" -- Poached-Banana Ice Cream with White Chocolate-Banana Crèpes and Chocolate Sauce

Resources:
Meat, produce and most of the aromatics from
Whole Foods
Parsley and thyme from my garden (woo-hoo!)

365 unsalted butter

David's kosher salt

Ex Libris Cabernet Sauvignon (2004)

Music to Cook By:
Jem; Finally Woken. Not everyone likes Jem Griffiths. Some think she's too strummy-strummy-la-la. Others think she's a Kate Bush or Dido knock-off. I don't necessarily agree or disagree strongly with any of these assessments. I just like her music. I usually listen to her in the car, but this time I cranked it up while I was cooking, and it worked.

Read My Previous Post: Île Flottante

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I freakin love this dish. Of all the things in the FL cookbook, I have done Pommes Anna the most. I gotta say, I'm with you on the prunes. I've been using dried Black Mission Figs lately. During the Fall/Winter months, I've subbed sweet potatoes and dried cranberries to great success. IF for some reason you ever decide to do the sweet potatoe thing, don't soak the slices in water...they curl like nobody's business--found that one out the hard way.

Awesome post Carol.

Victoria said...

OMG. This looks absolutely fantastic - and very do-able. (That's not a real word, but you get the idea, don't you?) I hope your next project will be cooking through Bouchon - and then cooking through the not-yet-published Ad Hoc. Otherwise, we will all be in deprivation mode.

Anonymous said...

Yabba-a-dabba-do, woo-hoo. You seem to be on a roll! Soaking the sliced potatoes to cut some of the starch - where did you pick up that trick? It seems so obvious once I read it, but never thought of it before.

Jaye Joseph said...

God that looks good. And I did the same thing with my Benriner. I love reading the instructions and make friends read them as well. Good times, good times.

Anonymous said...

Bacon...
Bloomberg...
Bordelaise...
Banana Split next...
hmmm...

Maybe a song from Bobby Brown (My Prerogative? Every Little Step?) to cap things off?

All kidding aside, more awesomeness! You hit the nail on the head with the beef - if it's good quality, the dish just becomes that much more succulent. And, as my old french chef instructor used to say daily, "always, always, always - strain your sauce!" That bordelaise - wow! Could definately get saucy with that puppy!

Anonymous said...

Oh Carol I love how you talk dirty to me every week with your Bordelaise sauce and all. I think that I need to relocate to a house near you and bribe you with foie gras terrines to invite me to your tastings. I wish I could have been there for Yabba-dabba-doo-oh- yeah-baby. I have made this dish with figs instead of prunes since I'm not the biggest prune fan. It was freakin' amazing. That evening my husband declared me best wife ever and then promptly wanted to know the next time I would be making this steak dish again. The only thing that I think could make this better would be to follow it up with the dessert from last week.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm..Bordelaise sauce! I've been a recent convert to veal stock, and with recipies like this, one can create the nectar of the Gods!
Thanks for such a great post - looking foward to the "Bananna Split"!

Anonymous said...

For those who aren't going to make their own stock, where does one find veal stock. I'm a Washingtonian as well, so feel free to go local and specific if need be.

amber said...

don't know if i'll make the potatoes anytime soon, but i think i could definitely handle the steak for a weekend meal. sounds like i also need to get crackin' on making veal sauce so i can try this SAUCE! sounds delectable!

Anonymous said...

Carol, long time reader, first time writer from UK. Can I thank you so much for your wonderful insight into the FL cookbook. I too have worked my way through it, with some success might I add, and your weekly blog just serves to inspire me to keep ploughing through. Keep up the top work.
Also, as per some of the above comments, I would like to add that the Pommes Anna is one of my favourite go to recepies if friends descend upon us.
Keep up the excellent work!!!

Elke said...

You are very inspiring...and I love that you share even your music choice with us. I will make this dinner when my nan comes over to visit next month ;-)She will love it. I am on the roll to re-create a dinner that was recently served to Thomas Keller. Check http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/menu_aboutseries.shtml for more info on the menu. I watched the show and he seemed impressed.

Hillary said...

Mmmm, SMITTY'S!!!

Can I just tell you I still think about the horrible pizza from the York Mall? It was awful...orange sauce, "cheez," almost a cracker crust...but a taste from childhood nonetheless. Blasphemy, I know -- to be clear I'm not saying I would EAT it now, just that I think about it...once in a while.

Pommes, steak, yum... I have a mandoline, still in its original packaging. I keep thinking about pommes *something* but maybe it's finally time to drag it out.

Anonymous said...

The picture of that steak after coming out of the oven!! I really want to lick that pan, despite the fact that it would burn my tongue to a crisp and I would be unable to talk right for days. I think it would be worth it.

pdxblogmommy said...

Personally, I love "Armoatic" Excellence on a Plate.

Oh, and steak. Love that too.

Melissa said...

The first one of yours that doesn't scare me. ;) I'm still learning so much.

Nice one, Carol!

Dragon said...

Hi. I've been an appreciative lurker for a while now. :) You make the most complicated recipes look easy and you've inspired me to get the book and try some of the recipes for myself.

I think this one might just be the first one I try..

Rosie Hawthorne said...

This looks wonderful, Carol, as does everything you've cooked. I love the translations on your mandoline instructions.

Here's one of my own I've saved for years, from an email I sent to a company about their sprinkler:

Dear xxxyzzz:
As your request we are pleased to let you know that you can purchase the spray attachment directly from shin Tai. Please inform us the information of your company and the way you would like to purchase it, quantity, payment..etc, With these details we can sooner provide you a quotation on this item. If you have any question please contact me at any time. Looking foreword to seeing your precious reply.

Sincerely,

Howard Yang 楊浩偉

Precious reply. That's precious.

Also, I found your first typo: "armoatic."


XOXOXOX,
Rosie

Anonymous said...

Not to be sally-safety, but please be careful with that mandolin! If you're not using the guard, it's pretty easy to take off a piece of your finger.

Anonymous said...

I had to do this as two cuts since my wife likes hers destroyed (well done) I eat pretty much anything but I have always held a bad memory of prunes since I tasted my grandparents prune juice as a kid. With your comments I cut back a bit but have to say I wish I didn't. The prunes blended the potatoes perfectly to the bordelaise and Meat. Just a great dinner.
BTW.. nice work for what I think is a GW girl.

Photography by Sopheavy said...

this looks devine!!!! I made something similar to this also with a really nice cabernet sauvignon I've been saving for a while but instead of beef I used lamb chop.