Steak with Bordelaise Wine Sauce and Fondant Potatoes

Last week, I posted a recipe for French Fondant Potatoes– those delicious potato rounds cooked in garlic, butter and chicken stock. In order to immerse myself further in the French food experience, I decided to serve my Fondant Potatoes with Steak in Bordelaise Sauce.

Bordelaise Sauce comes from the Bordeaux region of France and features red wine combined with veal or beef stock- reduced down to a tasty dark glaze. The Bordeaux region is of course well-known for its wine- especially its reds- and is famous for its Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Ideally you should use a Bordeaux wine to make the Bordelaise Sauce, but when that’s not possible, a full bodied red like Cabernet Sauvignon will do (and probably no one will notice anyway)!

Since the Bordeaux region borders on the Atlantic Ocean, there are some fine seafood dishes coming from this area, such as oysters from Arachon and Lobster à l’américaine. However, the most sought-after dishes . are those featuring beef or lamb. Hence, my love affair with Steak with Bordelaise Sauce.

I first learned the recipe for Bordelaise Sauce in 2012 at the Paris Le Cordon Bleu School, when we studied various French regional dishes. However, we paired the sauce with duck instead of beef- no thanks! In my opinion, duck goes best using a sweet acidic sauce, as in Duck à l’orange. Let’s save Bordelaise Sauce for beef or lamb, please!

How to do it

Please refer to my previous post French Fondant Potatoes on how to make the potato rounds. Otherwise, the Bordelaise Sauce is not very complicated- just make sure you reduce the wine and beef stock sauces thoroughly before combining them. After reducing the sauce further and adding the butter, the sauce should end up being thick enough to ‘coat the back of a spoon’.

Tip: use a fillet steak or rib eye for the most tender steak. Salt the steak before cooking to draw out the juices and let the steak rest at least 10 minutes before serving.

Steak with Bordelaise Sauce and Fondant Potatoes
Print Recipe
Serves: 2 Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 steaks (fillet or rib eye)

Bordelaise Sauce

1.4 oz (40 g) shallots, finely chopped

1 Bay leaf, several sprigs of thyme

1 cup (250 ml) red Bordeaux wine (or other red wine)

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1 2/3 cup (400 ml) beef stock (reduced)

several black peppercorns, crushed

1 Tbsp butter

Instructions

1

Add the chopped shallots, Bay leaf and several sprigs of fresh thyme to a medium saucepan. Add the red wine and reduce over medium heat until the liquid reaches about 50% of its original volume (about 10-12 minutes).

2

In a separate pan, reduce the beef stock and crushed peppercorns until about 50% of its original volume. Combine the two liquids together into one pan, strain through a sieve and continue to reduce until the mixture thickens. Whisk in the butter- the sauce should be shiny and thick enough to 'coat the back of a spoon.'

3

To prepare the steaks, salt and pepper both sides and brush both sides with a little olive oil. Heat several tablespoons of olive oil over high heat on the stove top. Reduce heat to medium-high, then cook the steak about three minutes each side. Place the pan in a pre-heated oven (350 F) and bake a further 3-5 minutes until the steak reaches the desired level of 'doneness.'

4

Remove steaks from heat and let rest 10-20 minutes. To serve, place the steak and Fondant potatoes on a plate. Add some of the Bordelaise sauce on top of each steak or in a small serving container on the side of each plate.