Classic Red Wine Steak Sauce Recipes

STEAK WITH RED WINE-SHALLOT SAUCE

Steps:

• Remove the steak from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the steak dry and season generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Place the steak, standing up on the strip of fat, in the pan and hold it with tongs until the fat renders and the pan is slick, about 2 minutes.
• Place the steak flat in the pan and sear until deep brown on one side, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side until a thermometer inserted sideways into the thickest part registers 120 degrees for medium-rare, 3 to 4 more minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes. Reserve the drippings in the skillet.
• Add the shallot to the drippings and cook over medium heat until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half and slightly syrupy, about 7 minutes; remove from the heat. Whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, to make a glossy sauce. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper or season to taste. Slice the steak against the grain and serve with the sauce.

CLASSIC FRENCH BORDELAISE SAUCE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a small saucepan, place the red wine, shallots, thyme, and bay leaf and set over medium heat.
• Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and continue to cook to reduce the contents to half of the original volume.
• Add the beef stock to the pan and bring the mixture up to a boil again.
• Using a tablespoon, skim and discard any foam that appears on top of the sauce.
• Continue cooking the Bordelaise by another 50% or until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon-otherwise known as having a nappe consistency. In total, the Bordelaise should have reduced by 75% of its original volume by now.
• Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste. Use on grilled steak or slow-roasted beef and enjoy.

FILET MIGNON WITH RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onion in 1 tablespoon butter until tender. Add garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and oregano; cook and stir 1 minute. Add tomato paste; cook and stir 2 minutes longer., Gradually whisk in wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until reduced by half. Strain sauce and return to pan. Gradually stir in remaining butter until melted. Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Remove from the heat; keep warm., Sprinkle steaks with remaining salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil. Grill, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a thermometer should read 135°; medium, 140°; medium-well, 145°). Cover and let stand for 3-5 minutes. Serve with wine sauce.

STEAK IN RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, vegetables and herbs, and cook on a medium heat until they soften and begin to colour. Heat a drop of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the beef trimmings and fry until coloured and sealed all over. Add the meat to the vegetables.
• Pour 1-2 glasses of wine into the frying pan in which you have cooked the meat. Bring this to the boil, scraping and lifting all the meat residue from the bottom of the pan. Pour the liquid into the pan that contains the meat and vegetables. Let the pan's contents bubble until the wine has reduced by three-quarters.
• Now add and reduce the rest of the wine, 1-2 glasses at a time. If you tip it all in at once, you wash the vegetables and meat of their roasted edge, so their flavour in the finished sauce is bland. Reduce by three-quarters, glass by glass until all the wine is used.
• Now add the beef jus, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 45 mins to 1 hr. Regularly skim away any impurities by weaving a small ladle in and out of the top of the sauce. Taste regularly and when you are happy with the flavour, strain the sauce through a fine sieve, squeezing out all the juices from the meat and vegetables.
• Ideally, also pass the sauce through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin, which will help remove fine impurities. Check for seasoning. You can make ahead up to this point, cool and refrigerate or freeze.
• Heat a grill or pan to hot, smear the steaks with oil and cook them, turning once, 4-5 mins for rare, 7-8 mins for medium, 8-10 mins for well done. Serve the steaks on a bed of wilted spinach with sticky shallots and pour the red wine sauce around. Mashed potatoes make a good accompaniment to this.

MUSHROOM AND RED WINE STEAK SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in large skillet over medium heat until melted. Add the red pepper and shallots and gently cook until the shallots soften, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, then take off the cover and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown, another 10 minutes. Add the thyme and garlic and cook until fragrant, then deglaze with the wine and cook until the alcohol scent dissipates, another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook until melted; season again. Serve over steak, pork chops or chicken.

SHALLOT & RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Sauté 250g sliced shallots in a medium saucepan with 4 tbsp olive oil over a high heat for about 3 mins until lightly browned, stirring often.
• Season with ground black pepper and add 1 lightly crushed garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary.
• Continue cooking for a further 3 mins, stirring often to prevent the shallots burning.
• Pour in 5 tbsp balsamic vinegar and cook until evaporated away to a syrup, then pour in 400ml red wine and cook until reduced by two thirds.
• Pour in 400ml beef or brown chicken stock and bring to the boil.
• Turn down the heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds again, to around 250ml. Remove the garlic and rosemary.
• Add a little salt to taste and finally 'monte' (whisk) in a knob of butter. Add any juices from the steaks just before serving.

RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Pour the fat out of the pan you cooked your steaks in, but don't clean it. Place the pan back on the heat with half the butter and the shallots and sizzle for 2 mins to soften. Stir in the flour and cook to a sandy paste, then splash in the vinegar and simmer for a moment. Pour in the wine and stir, scraping any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to the boil and bubble for a minute, then whisk in the mustard and then the stock.
• Boil the sauce down to about 200ml in total, then taste and season. Whisk in the remaining butter and the parsley, plus any resting juices from the steaks. Serve the steaks on warm plates and spoon the sauce over the top.