Bonnie Aeschliman: Mushroom-wine sauce can make leftover steak even better
A few days ago, a gentleman who had previously taken the Cooking 101 series I teach dropped by my store. He delighted me by describing various dishes he had made and how he was eating more healthfully these days.
After chatting for a few minutes, he told me how he had marinated and grilled a large flank steak the day before. It was just perfect — charred slightly on the outside but rosy-pink on the interior. Then he posed a couple of questions that I am going to share with you. One has to do with reheating a steak and the other how to make a butter-free sauce to serve with steak.
Q. I marinated a flank steak and grilled it perfectly and enjoyed much of it for dinner last night. Now that I have a leftover steak, how do I reheat it for a another meal so I do not overcook it?
A. Remove the steak from the refrigerator for 20 minutes before reheating. This allows it to reach room temperature. Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add two to three teaspoons vegetable or canola oil, just enough to make a film over the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the cooked steak and lightly sear on both sides, turning a few times until the steak is warmed throughout.
Q. I am trying to not use much butter because of health reasons. Do you have a great sauce to serve with steaks or roast without butter? Every steak sauce recipe I read has butter in it. Can you make a good sauce without butter?
Many steak sauces actually are butter sauces, so I suggest you use a different kind of sauce. One of my favorite sauces uses a roux (a mixture of fat and flour) as a base to thicken the sauce. Even a roux recipe calls for butter, but it is very easy to substitute oil. You may use olive, vegetable or canola oil. Here is a recipe I use frequently for beef tenderloin, but it also would be fabulous on a steak. If it makes too much for you, you can easily reduce it by half. Also, you can make it in advance and reheat it before serving.
This story was originally published February 12, 2013 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Bonnie Aeschliman: Mushroom-wine sauce can make leftover steak even better."