Black and Blue Steak with Bearnaise Sauce

I was involved with someone a while back - actually, several guys - who insisted, invariably, on ordering their steak well done.  For those of you who like it well done, I’m very sorry for judging, but that just seems a waste of perfectly good meat.  In fact, one guy went so far as to refuse to watch me eat steak that was pink in the middle.  What a fool.

Anyway, I love my meat cooked, well, barely.  Recently, I challenged myself to a meat dish with just a steak and whatever ingredients I had available.  My mom told me about Arthur Schwartz and how he suggested recipes to make when it seems you’ve got nothing in the house.  Well, I learned to cook that way when I was in law school and living away in Connecticut for 3 years.  Sometimes I didn’t have time to get to the market and buy ingredients - and many a recipe was created that way, with items I’d find in the refrigerator, pantries, etc.  (And of course, you’ve got to have a variety of wines in the racks, at the ready, depending on what you choose to make.)

Fortunately, there were some great ingredients available.  I was talking to my sister and snooping around and realized that it looked like ingredients were available for a Bearnaise sauce.  Wow!  Steak with Bearnaise sauce!

I chose a Barbaresco to pair with it.  Just in case you aren’t familiar with Barbaresco, it’s an appellation in Northern Italy, in Piemonte, made form the Nebbiolo grape.  You want it to be a bit aged at least, as Nebbiolo is tannic and therefore bone dry, and shows characteristics of cherry, rose petals, spice, and

The steak was cooked black and blue - seared and darkened on the outside, and very rare on the inside - just the way I love it.  And all the while, I sipped on the Barbaresco as it opened up.

So - the Bearnaise sauce.  honestly, I’d never made the sauce before, but I’ve had it many, many times. All I needed was unsalted butter, white vinegar, lemon juice, chopped shallot, kosher salt, black pepper, egg yolks, and tarragon.  (By the way, I love tarragon.)  Melt the butter and then saute the shallots in it, with a touch of kosher salt and black pepper, and stir in the vinegar.  Set it aside and let it cool.  In the meantime, heat your blender, preferably with warm or hot water.  Heat up more butter.  Put the egg yolks, lemon juice, and some warm water into the blender.  Begin trickling in the warm melted butter.  Once the mixture is pureed smooth, place in a bowl and mix in the shallot mixture.  Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper, and add in the tarragon.  That’s it!

It was a perfect pairing - the Barbaresco, steak black and blue, and Bearnaise sauce.  Delicious.  And it’s simple, and inexpensive.