Saturday 19 February 2011

Peppercorn sauce

This is the sauce i had to do on MasterChef during the 10 minute pressure test, which i aced, theres one thing i can do and thats cook a friggin good steak! The sauce is really quick and is a perfect accompaniment for steaks or roast beef.  Remember when making this that pepper is a spice and it benefits from being gently dry fried to release its full flavour.

Ingredients
Serves 4 portions
300mls double cream
A few tablespoons of whole black peppercorns (if you don’t have whole, ground from the pepper mill will be fine)
50mls of brandy
1tbs Dijon mustard

Method
If not already ground - grind up the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar or in a pan with a rolling pin or hammer.
If you have previously cooked steaks make the sauce in the pan after the steaks have been cooked.  That way you get the flavour from the steaks in the sauce.
In a hot pan gently fry the peppercorns for 30 seconds to release their flavour.
While the pan is piping hot add the brandy, this de glazes the pan i.e gets all the flavour from the bottom of the pan.  BE CAREFUL when doing this as the brandy may flame up, if it does don’t panic, it will go out itself after a few seconds when the alcohol has burned off.
After a few seconds (don’t let the brandy reduce to nothing but it should be reduced by aprox half the volume) add the cream to the pan and turn the heat down to its lowest setting.  If you are using an electric hob, take the pan off the hob for a few seconds while the heat reduces so you don’t boil the cream.
Stir in the mustard, warm everything through and serve.

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