Peppercorn Sauce (French Sauce au Poivre)

Creamy peppercorn sauce has a lovely rich warmth to it that goes so well with a juicy steak. You can make it in about 10 minutes, so it can be bubbling away while your steak is resting. Personally, I love it over fries (without the steak) for a comforting weekend lunch.

4 tsp. black peppercorns
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter (15 g)
½ Tbsp. sunflower oil
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
¼ tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. brandy
¾ cup beef stock (180 mL)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ cup heavy cream (120 mL)

Place 3 tsp. of the peppercorns in a zip-lock bag and roughly crush with a rolling pin (or use a pestle and mortar if you have one). Don’t bash too much - we want a bit of texture, rather than a fine powder. Put to one side.

Add the butter and oil to a frying pan and heat over a medium heat.

When the butter has melted, add the shallots, salt, the crushed peppers from earlier, and the remaining 1 teaspoon of whole peppercorns. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the shallots are just starting to soften.

Add the brandy to the pan, bubble for 1 minute, then add in the stock and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer rapidly for 5 minutes until reduced by half.

Stir in the cream (if you have any juices from resting your steak, add them to the pan now too). Bring back to a simmer, then turn off the heat.

Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Cook's Notes:  If you’ve just cooked steak to go with this sauce, use the oils/meat-drippings that are left in the pan, instead of the sunflower oil and butter.