Sunday, June 22, 2014

Steak Diane

Bev had gotten a couple of rib eyes out of the freezer and decided she wanted Steak Diane (because of the flambé I suspect) so we began looking at recipes and settled on the one from Food.com.  Per Wikipedia - “Steak Diane is an American dish of a pan-fried beefsteak with a sauce made from the seasoned pan juices, generally prepared in restaurants tableside, and flambéed. It was popular in the middle of the 20th century, but was considered dated by 1980.”

Bev’s favorite steak is a filet and her least favorite is ribeye because of the amount of fat in them so I decided to see if I could help this by trimming the outside and removing the big fat layer between the two muscles.



The recipe below has the sauce ingredients doubled so we would have plenty for the pasta we used as a side dish (last of the leftovers from the blogger party).

Steak Diane – Saveur 

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. canola oil
4 (4-oz.) filet mignon steaks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups beef stock
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallot, minced
8 oz. oyster or hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, torn into small pieces
½ cup cognac or brandy (we used 1/3 cup brandy)
½ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. hot sauce, such as Tabasco
2 tbsp. minced parsley
2 tbsp. minced chives

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Season steaks with salt and pepper, and add to skillet; cook, turning once, until browned on both sides and cooked to desired doneness (see notes), about 4 to 5 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to a plate, and set aside.


2. Return skillet to high heat, and add stock; cook until reduced until to ½ cup (1 cup for me), about 10 minutes. Pour into a bowl, and set aside. 
3. Return skillet to heat, and add butter, garlic and shallots, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, and cook, stirring, until they release any liquid and it evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 2 minutes.


4. Add cognac, and light with a match to flambé; cook until flame dies down.  Below was supposed to be a flambé shot but it didn’t pick up the flame.


5. Stir in reserved stock, cream, Dijon, Worcestershire, and hot sauce, and then return steaks to skillet; cook, turning in sauce, until warmed through and sauce is thickened, about 4 minutes.
 6. Transfer steak to serving plates and stir parsley and chives into sauce; pour sauce over steaks to serve.



Notes:
1. I cooked the meat to less than medium rare then took them to the desired temperature when I added them back into the gravy.
2. Trimming the steaks like this worked beautifully and Bev loved the ribeye this way - I gave her and Pat the leaner center pieces and I ate the outer ones. 
3. Because I doubled the sauce ingredients, my times were all longer than the ones in the recipe. 
4. Next time I will add a thickening agent as the sauce was too runny for the pasta.

Like Salisbury Steak, Steak Diane may now be out of style but it’s easy to see why both dishes were popular at some point.  I don’t remember ever making or even eating Steak Diane and I didn’t know what I was missing.  It was pretty easy to make, totally delicious, and a big hit with all of us.  It will be made again, but next time, I think it will be served with some smashed potatoes.  We also had some broccoli but after eating what was on my plate, I was too full to eat any.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/16/14 event date

21 comments:

  1. Great job Larry. We feel the same way as Bev does about the rib eye steak - too much fat. Seeing his makes me miss the days when steak Diane, Caesar salads, and bananas foster were served table-side, prepared by your waiter in upscale restaurants. Those were the days.

    Hope you guys are having a nice weekend.
    Sam

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  2. Looks like and excellent recipe, have to give it a try some day. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Looks fantastic! I've never made Steak Diane. Must try it ASAP!

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  4. Flawless execution there, great Steak Diane, Larry. I like ribeyes but the fat is why it's the only steak that I don't like to reverse sear. Sounds like Bev would like the ribeyes done the way we did by accident once. We trimmed the spinalis dorsi (outer part) off of a whole rib roast and that was a fantastic steak on it's own. Treated it like a flank steak and cut the rest into eye steaks, which doesn't have the fat. Now if the price of beef would just come back down so I can afford to buy a whole roast, lol.

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  5. Your steak diane looks divine, Larry! I've only tried Julia Child's recipe, but will need to try the Saveur recipe now. It may have been considered outdated in the 80's but this dish is one of my family's all-time favorites and the first recipe that each of my kids prepared in their beginning cooking lessons. Fabulous photos captured the process and final presentation too!!!!

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  6. awright Mr. Smarty, I've been wanting to make Steak Diane for months now and simply haven't gotten the nerve to flambe. Plus this recipe makes the one I saved look like child's play. I really trust Saveur recipes. This looks incredible Larry, what a meal! As far as I'm concerned, these classic dishes should never ever go out of style.

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  7. A ribeye is my husband's favorite steak and yours look beautifully marbled. I like bringing back recipes from the past and I think this is a good one.

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  8. Larry, Great looking steaks! Laurie would love this meal and so would I once I push the mushrooms to the side. I'm sure that the sauce really adds a lot of flavor... Question: Are you having problems viewing the blogs you follow? Only the most recent blog pops up and the only way I can check the others is to go down my list and look at each one... Pain in the ....! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  9. I remember making Steak Diane a few years back, and I added cornstarch to thicken, because, like you, I thought the sauce was too thin.

    And you ate the steak but skipped the broccoli. Gee, what a surprise. I've seen that act a time or 2. Sounds like the manly option. Your dinner looked great.

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  10. Mmmmm...I am like Bev....make mine a filet and yes, I want the mushrooms!! I haven't had Steak Diane in ages....I think I have been motivated...

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  11. This was definitely a special occasion dinner back in the 1970's. Seeing is prepared table side made it extra special. I loved this preparation and haven't had it in years. My next special occasion dinner will be this recipe. Thanks for sharing, Larry. If I can't stop thinking about it I may have to make it soon.

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  12. Nice butchering job Larry! The sauce sounds amazing and it all looks great - thick or thin - I would enjoy it!

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  13. Hi Larry! This looks so delicious! I may give it a try this summer!

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  14. You did a great job getting rid of as much fat as possible on those steaks, Larry! I've never made Steak Diane but it sure look delicious.

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  15. Wow, that looks good. I have to say I have never made this at home. We have ordered it numerous times an Harrahs Steak House Reno because they make it table side. Tasty and a show to boot.

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  16. Looks utterly mouthwatering!!!!

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  17. It's been a while since we've made Steak Diane. We may have to dig out our recipes.

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  18. We used to have steak Diane all of the time. Will now do it again. Beautiful Larry. Family coming soon. Will not be posting for a while.

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  19. Larry, that looks perfectly delicious! Ribeye is my favorite, so much more flavorful (I think) than New York or filet mignon. I'll leave the flambe to you, though. I'd probably burn the house down!

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  20. This is my kind of meal! I personally love a ribeye because of the fat content - it's just so darn flavorful! Excellent recipe Larry!

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