Steaks with a pepper-cognac sauce

This year’s Christmas Eve dinner was celebrated with my in-laws. I decided that we would serve something simple but delicious, a meal which didn’t require hours of slaving in the kitchen. I served these steaks with Nockerl (tiny dumplings. I made about 1.5 kg by hand) and a potato gratin. Afterwards I served a crème bavaroise (see recipe review here: http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=2591.0). And then we couldn’t move.

This recipe is taken from the German recipe forum www.chefkoch.de and serves four.

Ingredients:

4 steaks (each approx. 200g)

4 all spice berries

1 tbsp black peppercorns

1 tbsp white peppercorns

1 tbsp green peppercorns

2 tbsp oil

4 tbsp cognac

20g butter

25oml cream

salt to taste

1. Coarsely grind peppercorns and allspice berries (I used the TMX, pushing down the peppercorns until they were coarsely chopped, speed 10 worked best).

2. Rub this mixture onto the steaks and press it onto the meat.

3. Fry the steaks on a high heat for 1 minute on each side. Reduce the heat and then fry for 2-4 minutes on each side. Remove from frying pan, wrap in tin foil and leave to rest.

4. Pour off the oil from the frying pan and add cognac to the juices in pan. Allow to bubble before adding butter and cream while stirring. Reduce to desired consistency.  Season to taste with salt.

5. Remove the steaks from the foil and place on four plates. Add the meat juices to the sauce in the pan and stir. Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve.

Christmas Cake 2009

English Christmas cakes are very popular here in Germany among my friends and family. This year I decided to try out a recipe published  in this month’s BBC Good Food Magazine (P. 148) called Bubble and Bake Christmas Cake. It was written by Sara Buenfeld who I am very grateful to because I managed to supply friends and family with lots of Christmas cakes with hardly any effort at all. I made this on the stove top and only used the TMX to grind or chop the almonds. I made a non-alcoholic version for my favourite Turkish greengrocer who is learning English and she was thrilled. I hope you like the recipe too. Merry Christmas!

Add the following ingredients to a heavy bottomed saucepan:

200g dark muscovado sugar, 175g butter (chopped), 700g luxury mixed dry fruit (I used organic where possible), 50g glace cherries (I used candied orange and lemon peel),  2 tsp grated fresh ginger, zest and juice of one orange, 100ml dark rum, brandy or orange juice.

Bring to the boil slowly and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Stir frequently, otherwise the mixture will catch. Leave to stand for 30 minutes to cool.

Then add:

85g pecan nuts (roughly chopped – I used almonds), 3 large eggs (beaten), 85g ground almonds, 200g plain flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp mixed spice and 1 tsp cinnamon.

Stir everything together gently but thoroughly.

Grease and line a deep 20cm round baking tin and spoon in cake mix. Level the top with a spoon. Bake in preheated oven 150C/130C fan assisted for 45 minutes. Then turn down temperature to 140C/120C fan assisted for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until done. Leave to cool on a wire  rack.

You can then decorate the cake as you wish.

Tips: If you have an oven thermometer it’s a good idea to use it for this recipe. I used mine and found that the longer baking time was just right. The great thing about this recipe is that the cake doesn’t become dark/burnt, instead it is a beautiful caramel colour when it comes out of the oven.

If you also live in Germany and would like to bake this cake, you’ll probably experience difficulties finding a 20cm round cake tin since most German cake tins are 24-26 cm. Luckily, TK-Maxx has been sprouting out of the ground like mushrooms in North-Rhine Westphalia and this store often has British size cake tins at a very reasonable price.

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