It should also be explained that a major element in my cooking style is a medium-sized covered terra cotta pot that is glazed on the inside, which I use as a warmer, sort of. I usually cook any meat item to less than the ultimate desired doneness and then remove it to the terra cotta pot in a 175-degree oven while I am monkeying with the sauce. It seems to have some magical mystery evenness of cooking and tenderizing property to it, but I'm sure that any ceramic oven-rated vessel will do. This is actually just a thing I've developed to compensate for shortcomings in my preparation technique, so if you've got better preparation chops or a better kitchen than I, you may want to modify the recipes accordingly.
While you're cooking this, you might want to have a plate of cheeses and olives for your guests to play around with. And some baguette - don't bother cutting it; let them break it off with their hands. You can vacuum later. I think you could make this meal sort of a celebration of the American palate by breaking out a real ripe bottle of Chardonnay before dinner as well. If you're not into the ripe Chardonnay thing, then maybe a bottle of Pinot Gris from Oregon. Lay a piece of prosciutto on each of the steaks. Place in a pan on medium-high heat, prosciutto side down, searing the prosciutto to the steak. Allow to brown. Flip and brown the other side. Remove from pan and set aside in warming oven. Add butter and chopped shallots to the pan. There should only be enough butter so that it is mostly absorbed by the time the shallots become transluscent. Add the chopped prosciutto and cook until it becomes sort of crispy. The prosciutto will stick together when you chop it in a way that might cause to make you cranky, but don't worry; it breaks apart easily in the pan once it starts to brown. Set aside with the steaks, leaving some of the prosciutto, maybe a teaspoon, in the pan. Add the beef broth and turn to high heat, reducing to a third. Even though it's not very haut cuisine, you might want to add a pinch of flour to help the reduction thicken a bit. When the sauce looks to be the consistency you'd like, spoon half onto the plates, place the steak atop the sauce, then the rest of the sauce onto the top of the steak, adding the reserved shallots and prosciutto, as well as a pinch of the chopped sage and a healthy dose of crumbled gorgonzola. This goes really well with a fairly simply prepared vegetable, such as broccoli or asparagus with just butter and pepper. For steak, a decent bottle of red is always right. If you don't have a cache of well-aged Bordeaux that you are ready to break out, something in the way of an American Cabernet might be the ticket. (By the way, where beef broth is concerned, most people don't make their own stock to keep around, and you shouldn't worry about using some broth in a can or air-pack off the shelf. Even something like Campbell's works fine, especially if you like the extra gelatin in the "consommee".) |
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