Steak Marchand de Vin

Bonne fête! It's that time of year again, when No Free Lunch celebrates Bastille Day with another French recipe. This time, I'm turning to the master, Jacques Pépin for inspiration. His book, Essential Pépin, is a treasure trove of ideas, most of which are quite accessible. This year's dish is a classic steak with a pan sauce, which hearkens back to my second recipe ever, though this is considerably more sophisticated. I even (unintentionally) used the same copper sauté pan, which is very effective for building a good sear on steaks and then developing a pan sauce.

Pépin translates the dish as "wine merchant steak," and describes it as a bistro dish. As I understand the term, a bistro is a small, informal establishment serving simpler and heartier food than a formal restaurant, originating in Paris. This is the kind of food that really appeals to me to try to replicate at home. "Pub grub" might be a good analogy in the British Isles, though bistro food tends to be a little more refined than that. This recipe is a reasonably close replication of Pépin's dish as written, though I've made a few adjustments to my own taste. For the meat, I've swapped out New York strips for some nicely marbled ribeyes I found at Walmart, of all places. I also increased the garlic and mushrooms, which is quite common practice in our house.

There are a few ingredients of note to talk about. Pépin calls for a "fruity, dry red wine," and suggests Beaujolais. I used La Granja Tempranillo Garnacha, an inexpensive Spanish wine from Trader Joe's. Quite appropriately for pandemic cooking, we realized we were out of Dijon mustard when the sauce was about half done. I used hot Chinese mustard instead, and then kicked up the acidity with a small squeeze of lemon juice. Do what works in these strange times! The last interesting addition is potato starch, which I recently used in fried calamari. Pépin briefly discusses his preference for potato starch over corn starch for thickening sauces. Although well-known in Kosher-for-Passover and Japanese cooking, it's not commonly seen elsewhere. It worked very well here, and I plan to experiment with it further.

Ingredients

• 2 ribeye steaks, about 1 inch thick (mine were about 12 oz. each)
• 6 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup fruity, dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard (see note above)
• 1/2 tsp. potato starch
• 1 Tbs. butter
• Lemon wedge (optional)
• Finely chopped fresh chives, to taste
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Instructions

Salt and pepper both sides of the steaks. Press the edges of the steaks into the excess salt on the plate. This can be done an hour ahead of time. Leave the steaks uncovered in the refrigerator after seasoning. Pat dry before cooking. 

In a skillet or sauté pan, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the steaks, flipping and rotating every minute or so to promote even browning. Continue until steaks are nicely browned on both sides. I cooked for a total of 9 minutes, but you may want to pull them earlier if your steaks are thinner. Set aside to rest on a plate.

Turn the heat to medium. Do not drain the pan. Add the mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes. The mushrooms will release some water as they cook. Add the shallots and sauté one more minute. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute. 

Add the wine, turn the heat to high, and reduce. Pépin says to reduce to 2 Tbs., but I reduced only to about half. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half again. When the stock is mostly reduced, add the Worcestershire sauce and mustard. In a small dish, mix potato starch and a little water. Stir into a slurry and add to the sauce. Continue reducing to desired thickness. Add the butter and stir until melted. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and juice from the lemon, if desired.

To serve, spoon sauce around the steaks and garnish with chives.