steak roquefort

On our anniversary in December, I made the beloved carnivore one of his favorite dishes of mine – or maybe it’s one of my favorites, I’m not really sure.  On our second date, this is what I cooked for him.  That night, I also made cauliflower au gratin – which I will introduce you to once I make it again and remember to take pictures – and a spinach, grapefuit, and avocado salad.   Knowing him as well as I know him now, I find that last part hilarious.  If you know this guy, you know that feeding him spinach is a stretch – avocado is yet another stretch – and grapefruit?   [Insert streams of laughter here].  It’s a sign that he already liked me a good bit that he ate half of his salad that night.  It’s a sign of how much I now love him that I have promised never to make him eat it again even though I think it’s delicious and would like to make it for dinner parties and such.

This is really quite simple, as long as you have good steaks.   Also, I don’t recommend getting pre-crumbled blue cheese.  If it’s in a little plastic tub pre-crumbled, it’s unlikely to be of high enough quality to be the centerpiece of your dinner, and it’s also unlikely to melt as well as a nice block of a creamier blue cheese.

Steak Roquefort

Adapted from Recipezaar

• 2  4- to 6- oz filet mignon steaks
• 1 TBSP butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4-5 oz Roquefort or other blue cheese (see note above)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to the warm setting.

Dice the cheese into small chunks and set aside.  Using a paper towel, dry off the surface of the steaks.  Generously season the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper – preferably coarse salt and medium grind pepper.   Melt the butter over medium-high heat.   When it’s melted, add the steaks to the pan.  For a medium-rare steak, let the steaks cook first for 4 to 5 minutes and then flip over and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  If the steaks are on the thinner side, it may take less time.

When steaks are done, transfer them to an oven-safe plate and place in the warm oven.

Remove any unsavory (read: burnt) looking steak bits from the pan in which you cooked the steaks and throw them away.  Pour the 1/2 cup cream into the pan, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden or plastic spoon.   Bring to a near boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.   Add in the blue cheese chunks and stir well.    Important seasoning warning: Do not salt the sauce unless you’re a crazy salt-fiend.   There’s salt on the steaks already and blue cheese is often quite salty, so do your arteries a favor (in between doing them lots of non-favors) and put the Morton’s away. . .

Continue to simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for about five to seven minutes, or until it is thick enough to coat the spoon.

Here are some step-by-step photos of the sauce.  Note that the cream doesn’t look like it’s near boil in the second photo, where the cheese has just been added.  That’s because I hurriedly dumped all the cheese in, instead of gradually adding it so that the sauce wouldn’t lose its simmer.   I’m not perfect.

That last photo – I was trying to demonstrate how the spoon left a clear path in the sauce (indicating optimal thickness) but I failed.  Mostly it just looks like I’m attacking the sauce.  But at least it shows you how much the sauce reduces.

Remove the steaks from the oven, put them on clean plates and top with a generous ladle full of this sauce.

This time I served this dish with Smitten Kitchen’s creamed onions but I’ve had it at fancy French restaurants served with French fries and you wouldn’t believe how yummy that is – especially if you dip the fries in the leftover sauce. Although I’d also like to plug that creamed onions recipe – wow is all I can tell you.