Steak au Poivre with Green Beans and Potatoes
- Savory
- French
- Stovetop
- Oven
A New Year's Eve plate: beef fillet cooked hard in a hot pan, then a cognac and cream pan sauce built on the peppercorn-studded fond, served with buttery potatoes and crisp green beans.
- Total
- 50 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 30 · Rest 5
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Searing · Deglazing
Instructions
-
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3 cm chunks. Put them in the large pot, cover with cold water, add 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Simmer until a knife slides in with no resistance, 15 to 18 minutes.
~18 min
Starting in cold water heats the potatoes evenly so the outside does not soften before the centre cooks through.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the potatoes boil, crush the peppercorns coarsely in a small bowl with the back of a spoon, leaving some cracked pieces. Pat the beef fillet dry, season it with a pinch of salt, and press the crushed peppercorns onto both flat sides.
~5 min
A dry surface browns instead of steaming, and pressing the pepper in now lets it toast in the hot pan and flavour the fond.
Crush the peppercorns unevenly on purpose: the fine dust flavours the sauce while the coarse pieces give a warm crunch against the steak.
-
Trim the green beans and set them aside. Heat the olive oil in the frying pan over medium-high heat, add the green beans and a pinch of salt, and toss until they are bright green and just tender with a little bite, 5 to 7 minutes. Tip them onto a plate.
~7 min
High heat cooks the beans fast so they stay bright and crisp rather than turning dull and limp.
-
Wipe the pan, add the vegetable oil and heat over high heat until it shimmers. Cook the beef fillet 2 to 3 minutes per side until deeply browned, then check the centre with the instant-read thermometer: pull it at 52°C for medium-rare. Rest the meat on a board for 5 minutes.
~11 min
A shimmering-hot pan drives Maillard browning, and resting lets the juices redistribute so they stay in the meat when sliced.
Pull the steak from the pan about 3°C below your target, since it keeps cooking while it rests and the sauce comes together.
Searing Get the oil shimmering and leave the steak undisturbed until it releases easily; moving it too early prevents a deep brown crust.
-
While step 4 rests
While the steak rests, pour off excess fat from the pan, set it over medium heat and add the cognac. Stir with the wooden spoon to lift the browned bits, then add 100 ml cream and simmer until the sauce coats the spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
~3 min
The cognac dissolves the browned fond into the sauce, and simmering reduces the cream so it thickens and clings to the spoon.
Deglazing Add the cognac to the hot pan and scrape the browned bits with a wooden spoon; those dissolved bits are the sauce's flavour.
-
Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Slice the rested beef fillet against the grain into 1.5 cm slices, spoon the cream sauce over it and serve with the potatoes and green beans.
~4 min
Cutting across the grain shortens the muscle fibres, so each slice is tender rather than chewy.
