Steaks with Merlot Sauce

Name: Steaks with Merlot Sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 1 (750 ml) bottle merlot (of drinking quality); 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans low sodium chicken broth; 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can beef broth; 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 4 thick-cut steaks (filet mignon, or whatever cut you prefer); fresh ground black pepper; 1/4 cup chopped shallot (or mix about 1 - 2 T minced garlic and a small chopped yellow onion); 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (additional); 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme

Submitted by Lizzie-Babette

"Elegant sauce for a special steak. Great for company or a romantic dinner for two. You can even make part of the sauce in advance. Great with bread for sopping and a nice salad. And wine, of course! Adapted from Bon Appetit."

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photo by Chicagoland Chef du Jour

Ready In:: 2hrs
Ingredients:: 11
Serves:: 4

ingredients

1 (750 ml) bottle merlot (of drinking quality)
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans low sodium chicken broth
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can beef broth
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 thick-cut steaks (filet mignon, or whatever cut you prefer)
fresh ground black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup chopped shallot (or mix about 1 - 2 T minced garlic and a small chopped yellow onion)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (additional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme

directions

Boil wine along with chicken and beef broths in heavy large saucepan over high heat until it's reduced to 2 cups (~45min to 1 hour).
NOTE: You can be prepare it to this point in advance, and cover and refrigerate.
Mix butter and flour in small bowl.
Heat 1 T olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
Season steaks with salt and pepper and sauté to your taste (4 minutes per side would result in medium rare steaks).
Remove steaks to a plate and keep warm (we put it in our microwave to keep the heat from dissipating) To your skillet, add shallots, garlic and thyme and stir 30 seconds.
Add 1 1/2 c reduced wine mixture to skillet (reserve remainder for another use).
Bring mixture to a boil and scrape up brown bits.
Whisk in butter mixture until the sauce is smooth.
Boil sauce until thick enough to coat spoon, about 2 minutes.
Drizzle sauce over steaks, and serve remainder in a gravy boat.

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Reviews

My GF passed this recipe along to me, she makes it every year for her holiday dinner and makes it a day ahead of time. I also made the SAUCE a day ahead for our diner party tomorrow. Nice to be able to get ahead of the game. I am not serving steaks but making a beef tenderloin. My point, it is NOT critical to cook your steaks in a pan to benefit from this delicious sauce. I reduced a full bottle of wine (I think it's important to use a good drinkable wine and reduce the whole darn thing!). Meanwhile.... I melted the butter & EVOO, sauteed the shallots, garlic and thyme and set aside until the wine was ready. Once the wine was reduced, I added the flour to the butter & shallots and combined well. Then added the reduced wine mixture. VERY tasty, a bit salty so next time I will pay more attention to the sodium content of my stocks. I'm not sure it will be an issue if small amounts are spooned on the tenderloin slices. I cannot wait to serve this up tomorrow. Thanks for posting LB!

Chicagoland Chef du Jour
Tonight, I made this exactly as posted. It was delicious! Loved, loved, loved the sauce!!! I would cut the cooking time down for the steaks, but I like my meat pink in the middle. I used 1 inch filets, and they were medium well, and I felt they would have been tastier at medium or medium rare. I watched the sauce carefully, since I cut the recipe down to serve 2. I found that I had the required amount of sauce after only 30 minutes of cooking on medium....started at high and then turned the eye down. I really loved this recipe....I think my doneness issues and sauce cooking issues were probably due to cutting the recipe down for 2. I highly recommend this delicious delight! It is fabulous!! Made for PAC Spring 2010.

breezermom
I've had this recipe for a long time and made it again last night. Here are my hints from making this several times: 1) I think it's silly that you reduce the liquid to 2 C. but then only use 1 1/2 C. in the sauce - so I use ALL the reduced liquid and then need about 2-3 T. flour to thicken it to my preference. 2). It is SO important to use low-sodium broths!! And even still, the resulting sauce will be very salty. Serve this with garlic-smashed red potatoes and you will be in heaven.

CookinDiva
This recipe uses far too much broth, diluting the flavor of a good bottle of wine. The Thyme is overpowering, especially since the wine taste is weakened by too much broth. Texture and color were fine. Try one can less of the broth, half the thyme.

gshupe
A great steak sauce. We served it over Rib Eyes and found the sauce to be very easy and flavorful.

Luby Luby Luby