Green Peppercorn Sauce

I stumbled across this recipe on green peppercorn sauce (with meatballs) while researching for a sauce to try with our steaks tonight. Green peppercorn sauce with steak is a classic combo. But somehow I had never actually tried it at home... We've always seemed to have gone with either the chimichurri, bernaise or mushroom sauce.

The recipe below does look like it calls for a lot of different ingredients. But I found that except for the sherry wine vinegar, I had pretty much everything already. A quick google search returned some suggestions for sherry wine vinegar substitutions. These were sweeten rice wine or red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, with the preferred being the rice wine. I had some mirin (japanese sweet rice wine) available in my pantry, so I went for the rice wine option.

The sauce turned out great... the spice and tanginess of the peppercorn and mustard help balance what would have been a quite rich and creamy sauce. I definitely would be making this one again.. :)

Green Peppercorn Sauce
adapted from this recipe from Simply Recipes

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium shallots
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar (I substituted with Mirin - sweet rice wine)
• ½ cup Cognac
• ½ cup red wine
• 1 cup of beef stock (I used a beef stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of hot water)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons green peppercorns
• Salt to taste
  

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the mustard and sherry vinegar (in my case.. the mirin) and reduce to half, about 1 minute. Add the cognac and cook to burn off the alcohol, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the red wine and reduce by half, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the stock and reduce the mixture by half again, about 10 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, butter and crushed green peppercorns.
6. Add salt to taste.

We had the sauce with steak and mash potatoes. :)

Potato & Leek Soup

Last night, I found some leek (possibly about 1+ weeks old) and potatoes (god knows how long) left over in my fridge. I usually only find time to go grocery shopping once every fortnight. So my fridge tends to be stocked with rather old veggies most the time.

It was however, enough to make my fav Potato & Leek soup. Perfect for these freezing winter nights. Here is the recipe. . .

Potato & Leek Soup

• 4 large potatos (peeled, sliced thinly)
• 1 leek (washed, white and light green parts sliced thinly - discard the rest)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 piece of bacon (sliced & chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (smashed and chopped finely)
• 2 Cups of Chicken Stock (just enough to cover the potatoes)
• 1/2 Cup of Thickening Cream
• Fresh Herbs (Optional - But I had some chives leftover)
• Butter & Olive Oil
• Cayenne Pepper (for seasoning)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. In a soup pot, melt butter in olive oil over medium heat. Add Garlic, Bacon, Onions then Leeks. Sauté until onions are soft and starting to brown. Be careful not to over cook the leeks.
2. Add the potatoes and pour in enough stock to cover the potatoes. Add water if necessary. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes become transparent and soft. Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes slices.
3. Remove half the contents of the pot to a blender and process until desired consistency. Reduce to low heat.
4. Add the processed contents back into the pot and mix together. Add Cream and stir.
5. Stir in Chives and add salt & pepper to taste.
6. Serve soup and season with some cayenne pepper.

Enjoy ~ !

Chimichurri Sauce

I first tasted this sauce at an Argentinian steak house in North Sydney. After the steak house closed and relocated (and their prices rose from $32 to $47 for a piece of steak), we've been trying to replicate this at home ... to some success ...with a bit of guidance from some recipes we found online. :)
Chimichurri Sauce

• 1 cup packed of fresh flat-leaf parsley (leaves only)
• 1/2 cup of fresh coriander
• 6 cloves garlic (smashed)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves (finely chopped)
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Place the parsley, coriander, garlic, paprika, oregano, food processor. Pulse until combined. Put the sauce in a non-reactive container (glass or plastic container). Using a spoon to mix in vinegar and olive oil. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chimichurri will last for up to 1 month, refrigerated. Make sure there is enough olive oil to evenly cover the herb mixture. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

P prefers my chilli version. Which is just by adding a couple of sliced up fresh chillies with seeds removed into the food processor with the rest of the herbs.

I've mostly used the sauce to be served with steak or used in green salads - to give it a bit of a 'kick'... :)