Esoteric ingredient, round two: Steak with Pink Peppercorn Sauce

Butter, shallots, brandy, pink peppercorns and cream make a rich, lively, slightly peppery sauce that elevates a simple pan-seared steak. Recipe below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]H[/su_dropcap]ow often do you buy an esoteric ingredient for a new recipe, only to let it languish on a shelf later? We’ve done that far too many times. So when I tracked down pink peppercorns for last week’s cocktail, I was determined to find new uses for them. Turns out one way people use these not-actually-peppercorns from Brazil, despite them being deemed perfect for fish and light sauces, is on meat. Steaks, to be specific. I was good with that.

Lots of steak recipes involving pink peppercorns call for red wine, often mixed with vinegar or Dijon mustard. I feared those approaches would overwhelm the peppercorns, making them subtle bit players. For this first outing, I wanted to make sure I tasted them. So I explored cream-based sauces and used brandy instead of wine. For me, wine (or brandy or sherry or vermouth) is that thing that elevates European-inspired sauces, taking them from gravy to sauce. If you don’t imbibe—or don’t wish to buy brandy just for this dish, a good apple cider will do the trick.

The toughest part of this really simple recipe may be tracking down pink peppercorns. I found them in the third supermarket I tried. Another source for them is The Spice House. They have stores in Chicago and Evanston in Illinois, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They also sell online.

We always fans of a simply prepared steak—salt, pepper and a hot pan. The sauce, made with butter, shallots, brandy, pink peppercorns and cream, offers a rich, lively, slightly peppery finish to it, making it something more.

Steak with Pink Peppercorn Sauce
Serves 2

For the steak
1 8 – 12-ounce boneless strip steak, an inch or more thick
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the sauce
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1/4 cup brandy (nothing fancy—we cook with E&J)
1/2 cup cream (don’t use half & half; it could separate)
salt

Take the steak out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature, then prep the ingredients for the sauce first. You’ll want them ready as soon as the steak finishes cooking. Grind the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, and chop the shallot.

Cook the steak. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Pat the steak dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat—you can use cast iron; I used one of our favorite nonstick pans. Give the pan time to get good and hot. Sear the steak on one side for about 4 minutes. Turn the steak and transfer pan to the oven. Cook to desired wellness, about 8 to 10 minutes for medium rare (about 140ºF when read with an instant read thermometer). Transfer steak to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Make the sauce. Pour off fat in pan and melt the butter in it over medium flame. Add shallots and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from flame and add brandy carefully—it may spatter. Return pan to flame and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits, until slightly thickened. Add cream and peppercorns to pan. Salt generously and stir to combine. Raise heat slightly and cook sauce until it reduces by half, stirring frequently. Stir in any accumulated juices from the steak plate.

Slice the steak crosswise and divide between two plates. Spoon sauce over—you’ll have a little more than you need, but not much. Serve.