ROTW, Week 21 : Steak-Frites with Goat Cheese and Red Wine Reduction

Ah steak-frites.  In my top 10 meals out there, probably (along with moules-frites - anything with frites is just delicious.  That's french fries for you heathens.)  To celebrate Memorial Day romantically, since no one else wanted to hang out with us, Brandon and I enjoyed this classic, with a steak sauce I had never made before.*

Steak-Frites with Goat Cheese and Red Wine Reduction.
The steak part of this recipe is adapted from Epicurious.com

• 4 beef steaks, such as porterhouse, sirloin, rib eye, shell or filet mignon (1/2 pound each and 3/4 to 1 inch thick), or one 2-pound steak
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 3 tbsp goat's cheese
• 3 large russet potatoes, washed and cut into french fry-size sticks

Preheat your oven to 450F.

Spread the potatoes out over a large baking dish, endeavoring to keep them on a single layer.  Spray lightly with spray olive oil or regular cooking spray (canola oil) and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.  Toss to coat, and pop in the oven to cook for 25 minutes minimum (probably closer to 35).  Just keep an eye on them, tossing occasionally, and they'll be done when the steak is done.  If they finish earlier, just turn off the oven and keep em in there, staying nice and hot.  Cold french fries are a waste.

Trim the fat around the outside of each steak, and reserve.

Begin the pan sauce by melting 2 tbsp of the butter over medium heat in a saute pan.  Add the steak fat and render over medium-low heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 3 minutes until they are just turning golden, then add the red wine.  Increase the heat to medium high, and let the wine reduce while you prepare the steaks.

Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large heavy skillet or sauté pan over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the steaks and sear for 1 minute on each side. Reduce the heat to medium. Season the steaks generously with salt and pepper and continue cooking, turning the steaks every other minute, until you see little pearls of blood come to the surface, about 6 to 8 minutes. The steaks should be cooked rare to medium for juicy, tender meat.

With about 1 minute left to cook on the steaks, remove the leftover steak fat bits from the pan, and add the goat's cheese.  Stir until it is completely incorporated, and then turn off the heat.  Ad salt and pepper to the sauce as desired.

Remove the steaks and place them on warmed plates. Serve with a generous helping of oven fries and a large ladle of delicious steak sauce.  Enjoy.

*Steak sauce is a relatively new concept to me.  We ate a lot of steak growing up, because my dad enjoys both grilling it and eating it.  But we rarely had it with sauce of any kind, because he really enjoys it au naturale.  Experimenting with steak sauce/ steak butter has become an enjoyable hobby for me.