Date NIght Bifteck au poivre (shhhh don't tell your date it is just pepper steak!)

Date NIght Bifteck au poivre 

 (shhhh don't tell your date it is just pepper steak!)

Don't make the  mistake of thinking the French name to mean expensive or difficult to make.

I use to make this for my boyfriend when he flew over from Paris to spend time with me. 

This was his favorite dish and he enjoyed a home cooked meal.

When I did not feel like cooking it I would take him to a little restaurant in Gloversville, NY that did an wonderful rendition of this dish and where I had learned to make it. To make sure though that I gave you the true French version I did go on some French cooking sites and made sure I was doing this right. 
After all it has been years since I made this for anyone. My memory was fine and I was doing it right.

Yes this takes a little more time to prepare but at the same time the preparations are easy and needless to say this is a great date night dinner to prepare for that special someone.

Date NIght Bifteck au poivre 

Ingredients:

1TBL black peppercorns roughly ground
2  steaks
Sea Salt
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions
1 TBL vegetable oil
1 TBL butter
3 TBL cognac (I used brandy)
3/4 c.  beef stock
3/4 c. heavy cream

Directions:

1 Sprinkle salt generously over both sides of the steaks and let them come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

2 Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. (Use a pan that can handle high heat.  I useCast iron.

 3 When the oil begins to smoke, take the pan off the heat.

4  Pat the steaks dry with paper towels (steaks brown better if they are patted dry first) and place in the hot pan.
 Return the pan to the heat and turn the heat down to medium-high and sear, without moving the steaks, for at least 4 minutes. 
Try to pick up a steak with tongs, and if it comes clean, flip it and turn the heat down to medium. If it sticks to the pan, let it cook for another minute or two on that side.

5 Once the steak is done to your liking remove the meat to a baking sheet and sprinkle on a generous portion of crushed black peppercorns on both sides of each steak. Tent with aluminum foil and let the steak rest while you are preparing the sauce. 

         Make the sauce

1  Add the shallots or onions and sauté for 2 minutes  in pan where you seared the steaks
 Add the brandy and as it boils, deglaze the pan by scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge all the browned bits. 
2 Once the brandy is almost cooked away, add the beef stock and turn the heat to high. 
3 Boil the sauce down until there's a noticeable trail when you drag a wooden spoon through the center of it (4-5 minutes).
4 Pour in the heavy cream and resume boiling.
5 Again, boil down until you can make that telltale trail from the wooden spoon. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and any remaining black pepper (no more than 1 Tbsp, the rest should have already been used to pepper the steaks). Taste for salt and add if needed.

5 Pour the sauce over the steaks right when you serve.
I would serve this with Freshly steamed asparagus

Then desert would be a strawberry yogurt in a parfait glass layered with fresh strawberries. 
This is a simple way of saying your special  to someone, without  breaking the bank or spending a lot of money.