French Fridays with Dorie: Bistrot Paul Bert pepper steak

I was so excited to see this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe –  Bistrot Paul Bert pepper steak (pp 238-239).  We don’t eat that much red meat these days, though I do love a good steak.  When we do, we buy from Rowe Farms, where we can be sure that the animals led happy lives and the meat actually tastes like meat.  It costs a little more but I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to meat.

This was another wonderfully simple dish that looked and tasted like it was much more complicated.  The steak is simply prepared with cracked black peppercorns and grilled.  The sauce is Cognac or brandy and cream, which we were supposed to cook in the same pan as the steak with the fat and “brown bits” left in the pan when the steak is done cooking.  Our filet mignons were so lean that they produced no fat or brown bits at all, so our sauce was not quite as darkly coloured as I would have liked (simply for aesthetic reasons) and the sauce was a little thin, but it was very tasty.

Paired with some of Neil’s double fried home fries, this was a wonderful reward for a hard day’s work on a grad school paper over Easter.  I’ll be remembering this sauce for he future.

Want to join French Fridays with Dorie? Join here.

French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves (trust me, you definitely want this book!) which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada.  Go on, treat yourself – join us in 2011!  There are some GREAT recipes coming up!

* Don’t forget to check out next month’s “Forever Nigella” event – I’m hosting a street party in honour of the Royal Wedding and would love for you to join me. All the details here.

48 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Bistrot Paul Bert pepper steak”

  1. I have her cookbook and I want to try this! I have a pepper steak recipe already so I’ll have to compare 🙂

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  2. Ah, to steal a couple of those frites! Great job to both of you. I enjoyed reading your Tweets during the Royal Wedding this morning. How awesome was it?

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  3. The cracked peppercorns were from Oz – courtesy of a blog pack exchange I believe?

    Wine was immediate: Bordeaux. Yes, there are lots of (red) options, but I went straight to the Claret section in the cellar and pulled out a standby.

    If you don’t have Bordeaux handy, or similar blends (Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc) any full-bodied red will do. Personally I’d stay away from anything like Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Granache and their ilk.

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    • We opened a Cab Sauvignon (California) at our house, but for some reason it didn’t seem to stand up to the steak as well as I thought. Must have been the pepper/overly charred exterior of the steak. I only wish I could read your comments on pairings before opening up a bottle!

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  4. I can’t wait until I have some time to go back and make the FFWD recipes I’ve missed! Love a good steak.
    Also, I’m in love with your beautiful steak knife.

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  5. Your photos and steak look wonderful. We also don’t eat much red meat anymore. However, I feel like you do, some times you just crave a great steak! This was a wonderful dinner.

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  6. These pics are so gorgeous – as are your steak and frites! I’m totally in lazy grad student mode, and didn’t realize until I started drooling on my computer that it’s been soooo long since I had red meat. OK, off to go satisfy some carnivorous instincts…though with something far less elegant and French…

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  7. Gorgeous results. Love to know that you sourced the beef in such a wonderful way. And I really loved the Bistro blue and white towel and Laguiole flatware….spot on ! We loved it and my guys may be getting steak more often now 🙂

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  8. We can never pass up a good steak either and a cream sauce with cognac sounds divine. I’ve had the same problem with no brown bits from very lean meat. I guess it’s what happens when you eat with less fat, so I don’t mind. Thanks to all of you for testing Dorie’s recipes. I’ll be making a note in my book about this one.
    Sam

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  9. Love pepper steak. And although I love beef, I pick and choose when to eat it and also choose quality over quantity and pay for it. Your steak looks perfectly cooked too!

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  10. I need to make a French Friday’s with Dorie recipe soon, my schedule permits me too right now, LOL! I think I may need to try this recipe later, it really does look beautiful, AND DELISH!!!
    Take care, Hugs,
    Terra

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  11. Beautiful dinner! Glad you finished that paper (you did finish it didn’t you?) Every time we have steak and home fries my husband says that it’s *Pub Night* at our place. I love pub nights!

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  12. Yum! STeak and fries.. what can go wrong. Neil did a great job with the fries… double YUM

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