Steak with Red Wine, Mushroom & Shallot Sauce {& Blue Cheese Dauphinoise Potatoes}

For a special meal for two you can't beat a perfectly cooked steak topped with a rich and flavourful Red Wine, Mushroom and Shallot Sauce. Add to that some Individual Blue Cheese Dauphinoise Potatoes and a Green Salad and you have the perfect meal to impress that someone special!

This is one of our favourite meals to have for a special night at home and it never let's us down. For that extra special touch serve with a bottle of your favourite red wine and light a candle or two, relax and enjoy! Who said romance is dead?!

Serves 2 (easily doubled)

2 steaks of your choice

Sprinkling of onion and garlic powder (optional)

Salt & pepper

For the sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

2 shallots, sliced

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

250ml red wine

½ tsp sugar (optional)

1 bay leaf (fresh if possible but dried is fine if not)

125ml beef stock

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

200g mushrooms, cleaned & sliced

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Prepare you barbecue if using otherwise get a large frying or griddle pan out.

Start by making the sauce. In a medium sized pan heat 1 tbsp of olive oil then add the shallots and cook for roughly 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute before adding the wine. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes until it has reduced slightly. Add the sugar if using, bay leaf, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Leave to gently simmer and reduce.

While the sauce is reducing heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan until hot. Add the mushrooms and cook on a medium-high heat until golden brown and the edges are a nice deep brown and the mushrooms are still bursting with flavours. Once ready remove from the heat.

Taste the sauce to check the seasoning then adjust if necessary. Add the sauteed mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes or so. If the sauce has reduced enough for your liking pop a lid on the pan while it finishes cooking. Once ready keep warm until ready to serve.

To cook the steaks season them with a little salt and pepper and if you like a sprinkling of onion and garlic powder. Once the barbecue is at medium-high grill the steaks for 3-4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove from the heat then cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes. (If cooking the steaks on a griddle or frying pan heat the pan until hot then sear the steaks as above).

Put the steaks onto individual plates then add any juices from them to the sauce. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the sauce along with half of the parsley then spoon over the steaks. If you have any extra put it into a jug or serving dish and pop on the table. Finish with a final sprinkling of parsley then serve with Individual Blue Cheese Dauphinoise Potatoes and a crisp green salad.

Individual Blue Cheese Dauphinoise Potatoes

This is just my basic Potato Dauphinoise recipe, which I half and serve in individual dishes. For the last 5-10 minutes of cooking I top it with some crumbled Blue Cheese then just before serving finish with a sprinkling of fresh parsley. It is rich, decadent and delicious and absolutely perfect with the Steak with Red Wine, Mushroom & Shallot Sauce.