Steak Diane is a fine dining dish, believed to have come about in New York city during the 1950's. Traditionally served tableside, (although thats pretty much died out out except in the most expensive restaurants). In this recipe I've substituted the traditional Steak tenderloin (very expensive) with Iron skillet steak. Tenderloin is, as the name suggests, very tender, thats because its a muscle that gets very little work in the steer's life, which is good.........however, it also means its doesn't have as fmuch flavor as the more worked  muscles. Iron skillet steak is a piece of meat that came into being  about 5 years ago, in my opion a very nice  piece of meat.  As its becoming more popular it is becoming more expensive (we chefs should have kept our mouths shut), still its fairly in-expensive and well worth every penny.

Also substituted in this dish is the use of 'store bought' beef sauce/gravy instead of "Demi-glace" Demi-glace is an incredibly good reduction sauce (means its thickened by reducing over heat the amout of liuid in the sauce instead of using a thickner like flour or cornstach. I will eventually put up the recipe for Demi-glace', but be prepared its typically a 2-3 day process. I've added some ingredients to te recipe below to insure the richness and smoothness that is found in Demi-glace'.

In this dish you'll use a technique called DEGLAZING.....relax........not nearly as complicated as it sounds. You probably have already done it: you simply add liquid to a hot pan. Adding the liquid in a hot pan creates a violent actions that helps lift sediment(where the flavor is hiding), and with the additon of slidding a spoon, or wooden spatula on the bottom of the pan, you now have a flavored liquid.

Steak Diane with all its fine dining background is an easy dish to prepare, remeber it was once served table side, which means its fair quick also, most time will be spent in getting everything prepared for cooking. I like serving this dish with mashed potatoes, helps get all the sauce up. Don't forget rolls on the side.

5 servings

 

           Ingredients:                                       Quantity

  1)    Iron skillet steak                               2 ½ pounds

 2)   Onions, minced                                 3 ounces

       3)   Garlic cloves                                       1, peeled and minced

       4)   Mushrooms (any kind,

cleaned and sliced)                          6 ounces

5)   Dijon mustard                                   1 ounce

6)   Worcestershire sauce                      1 ounce

7)   Beef gravy (store bought)               4 ounces

8)   Sherry (or any red wine)                 6 ounces

9)   Tomato sauce                                   1 ‘heaping’ tbl. Spoon

10)                     Heavy cream                            5 ounces

11)                     Kosher salt                                1 tablespoon (to taste)

12)                     Black pepper                            1 ½ tablespoon (to taste)

13)                     Fresh parsley                            ¼ cup chopped

14)                     Oil                                               As needed

15)                     Butter                                        2 ounces

16)                     Kosher salt                                1 teaspoon

17)                     Cumin                                        1teaspoon

18)                     Granulated garlic                    1 teaspoon

19)                     Black pepper coarse               1 teaspoon

Method of preparation

1)    Mix all 1 teaspoon each of kosher salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, cumin. Season steak with season mix, set the steaks to side.

2)    To hot, oiled pan, add sliced mushrooms, minced onions, cook to you begin to see carmalization (browning), immediately add minced garlic, stir.

3)    After adding the garlic and stirring, add half of the wine and deglaze pan (loosen anything that might have stuck to pan).

4)    Turn heat down to a simmer (medium heat), and reduce wine by half.

5)    Add to simmering pan: Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, tomato sauce> Bring ingredients back to simmer, and then turn heat to low to keep warm.

6)    Oil the seasoned steak and add to hot pan, turning 4 times until cooked to desired doness. Remove steaks and allow to sit for up to 5 minutes.

7)    Turn heat off steak pan, add remaining wine and scrapping bottom of pan to deglaze.

8)    Add butter and heavy cream, stir.

9)    Slowly add heavy cream mixture to mushrooms and onions, and mix well.

10) Slice steak into 10 equal parts, place on plates, 2 slices to each.

11) Spoon sauce mixture on top of steaks, serve.

 

Chef notes:

1)    This is a classic American dish, normally made with steak tenderloin.

2)    “Deglazing” is a technique used to remove flavored particles from hot pans, and used in the sauce accompanying the dish.

3)    Keep in mind; The mushroom mixture should be warm, not hot when adding the heavy cream mixture