For New Years Day, I made pan-seared steaks and served them with Shallot Butter Sauce. I found the recipe in The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001/2010 (link) on page 108. The sauce has a hint of lemon and marries quite well with the steak. Steak is blotted dry with paper towels, seasoned on both sides with Kosher salt, and pepper. Seared in a very hot pan with 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil for four minutes on the first side and then four (medium high heat) on the other for 4 more minutes for rare (5 for medium-rare; 6 minutes for medium). Remove the steaks to a platter and cover with tented foil to allow to rest for 5 minutes, during which time you then prepare the Shallot Butter Sauce in the same pan you made the steaks.
The magic I think is in the sauce. I doubled it. Shallot Butter Sauce (The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001/2010 page 109).
Shallot Butter Sauce
America’s Test Kitchen Recipe (doubled)
Serves 6-8 steaks
Ingredients:
- 2 medium shallots, minced (2/3 cup)
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- juice of one lemon (2 tsp)
- 2 tsp minced fresh parsley leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Follow the directions for the steaks as above. After removing the steaks, add the shallots to the skillet over LOW heat (don’t use a non stick skillet- you want the browned bits to contribute to the flavor of the sauce). Cook the shallots until softened, about 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen some of the browned bits. Add the chunks of butter, continue stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan until most of the browned bits are loosened. As soon as the butter is melted, add the lemon juice, chopped parsley and stir to combine. Pour the sauce over the steaks and enjoy!
