Sauce au Poivre

Melt 1/4 stick of butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots (cooking quickly over high heat) until transparent for approximately 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of cracked peppercorns. This is the hardest part to making this sauce. I opted for putting the peppercorns in zip lock bag and cracking them on my cutting board with a hammer. Noisy, but it worked. You can also use your pepper mill by adjusting the grind setting to largest grind. This requires your having a good quality pepper mill that has a wide range of adjustments. Click here to learn more about choosing a good quality pepper mill.

Add 1/2 cup of red wine, preferably something you may be sipping while you are preparing this meal. Don’t use plain old cooking wine, big mistake. Never cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink. Reduce this mixture to an essence which means until there is just a hint of wine left in the pan. Add the demi glace*, stir (with a whisk if you have one) until completely incorporated.

Simmer until the sauce has thickened, approximately 5-6 minutes. The sauce is thick enough when it will coat a spoon. Add 1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley, stir, and serve over the steaks.

*If using More Than Gourmet's Demi Glace Gold, reconstitute 1.5 ounces with 8 ounces of hot water either in the microwave oven or on the stove and follow the recipe.

Don't forget to garnish with some parsley for that finishing touch !