Valentine's Main: Rib Eye Steak with Marsala Cream Sauce

While wandering around my local Morrisons I noticed that their beef steaks were on offer because of Valentine's day. So, I took advantage and picked up some great rib eyes. Delicious! But what to serve with them? Last time I visited my parents in Rome, I had an amazing green peppercorn sauce and really wanted to try making that at home. However, after tasting my peppercorns, I found them to be really strong and was a bit worried that they would completely overpower the sauce. So, I decided to throw in a few other ingredients to temper the peppercorns. I think next time I try this I'll probably use my pestle and mortar to break up the peppercorns a bit before adding them to the sauce. Essentially this was a marsala cream sauce with a few peppercorns so if you don't have peppercorns, don't worry!

Ingredients

Onion, garlic and peppercorn mixture after the Marsala wine had cooked off.

Simmering sauce

Although you see mustard in the ingredients picture, I ultimately didn't use it because the sauce had lots of flavor on it's own. I also didn't use salt because the bouillon cube is already quite salty. Overall, this was a great main course for our special dinner and I'll post the recipes for the two sides (roasted cherry tomatoes and white beans with prosciutto and herbs) in a separate post. Be sure to take the steaks out of the fridge 20 minutes before you want to cook them so they can cook evenly. I brought them out when the starter was ready so that they could come to room temperature while we ate. Perfect! I had already made the sauce so that way we only had a few minutes between each course. 

Steak!

Finished dish ready for the sauce

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced
20 green peppercorns in brine, drained and rinsed
100-150ml whipping cream
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp thyme
1/4 - 1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/2 a beef bouillion
2 rib eye steaks

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion. Saute for a minute before adding the garlic and stir to combine. When the garlic is fragrant and the onion has softened, add the peppercorns and continue to cook over a low heat. After a few minutes, add the marsala wine and the herbs and increase the heat to medium. When the wine has simmered for a few minutes, it should start to be absorbed into the onion mixture and the pan will have noticeably less liquid in it. Reduce the heat and add the cream and beef bouillion. Allow to simmer and thicken to the consistency you prefer.

For the steaks, place a grill pan over medium high heat and brush with olive oil. Season the steaks with salt and pepper generously and lay in the pan. Allow to cook for 3 minutes before flipping and then allow 3 further minutes on that side. Cooking time will depend on how well done you prefer your steak and also their size. 

Valentine's Starter: Pappardelle in Saffron Cream

Appologies for the delay in posting this recipe (and the others from Valentine's Day for that matter), I still need to figure out a better way of making recipes before the day in question so that you can all have the recipes in advance... rather than afterwards! I think what I'll do is start tagging recipes that might be good for certain holidays or occasions (such as Easter). Anyway, we had a lovely evening of tasty food and it was all much more relaxed than going out to a restaurant. I was a bit nervous about making a three course meal since I thought it would mean I would be stressed and racing around the kitchen as pots boiled over and steaks burnt to a crisp. Fortunately, these recipes were all really simple. I made the sauces before Sam arrived so that all we needed to do was boil the pasta for the first course and then cook the steaks for the second. Perfect! I also made the side dishes in advance but I'll get to those in a different post. 

Ingredients including that questionable vanilla... 

Onion sauteing 

This recipe was inspired by one on the Food Network website. Their recipe called for vanilla extract to be added to the cream sauce but, having used it, I found it gave the dish a strange dessert like quality that wasn't entirely appropriate. So I've adjusted the recipe below to avoid that happening to others! I've also added parmesan cheese into the sauce rather than just on top because... well, why not? All in all, this was super easy and was a great way to make something that seems just that little bit more special for a day like Valentine's day. Hope you all had a lovely day and enjoyed something delicious either at a restaurant or at home!

Boiling the pasta

Finished product! 

Prep Time: 3 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
Pinch of saffron threads
250ml or 2/3 cup of cream
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
50g parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
2 tbsp chives, chopped
Pappardelle pasta

Method: 

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. While waiting for the water to be ready, add the butter and onion to a sauce pan over medium heat. When the onion starts to soften, add the saffron threads. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened. Slowly add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over medium high heat until the cream has thickened and then stir in the lemon juice and parmesan cheese. Lower the heat and keep warm while boiling the pappardelle according to the instructions on the pack. When ready, drain the pasta and add to the sauce pan. Toss to coat and add the chives and lemon zest. Plate with a few more chives and the remaining parmesan cheese.