I’ve got to admit that I love a steak night. I also think it’s one of the least stressful date nights to create at home. It always feels special because it’s reminiscent of dining out at a steak house, but a lot less pricey. To be honest, we very rarely order steak out at restaurants unless it’s really the specialty of the restaurant because I generally feel like I can top the experience at home and prepare it to my liking or mood.
This has been all the more true ever since we bought a sous vide circulator (I have Anova’s Precision Cooker) – it takes all the guesswork out of the preparation. It requires a little bit of forethought, but it makes nailing your preferred level of doneness very easy. Nonetheless, many cuts of steak only take about an hour to cook, and then you simply finish searing them on the grill or on your stove-top.
I decided to prepare London Broil for our Valentine’s dinner this year, and for this cut, I’d recommend a longer cooking time. It’s a tougher cut because it’s very lean, and the extended cooking time helps to tenderize the meat. In this case, the meat was deliciously silky after about six hours of cooking. (I recently had a similar experience with a sirloin tip roast which simply buttery after a similar amount of cooking.)*
Taking all the stress out of the cooking also frees up my brain to get creative with other elements like sauce, which I can make to suit my mood, or in my case, to match the wine we’re having that night. We’ll get to details on the wine in a second, but it had a mix of earthy notes with a hint of smokiness, which inspired me to match those flavors in the sauce by including mushrooms and a little smoked paprika, which is one of my favorite flavors anyways! I’d received some beautiful beech mushrooms from my CSA, which have a nutty, delicate flavor, so I decided to use those. You can absolutely substitute in other mushrooms, but you’ll want to add them in earlier on. (I’ve made a note in the recipe for when to add in heartier mushrooms.)
To complete the dinner, I made Hasselback potatoes as a side. I love these so much and they’re a lot easier to prepare than you might think. Since the oven was on anyways to make the potatoes, I also roasted a few mushrooms to use as a garnish and for a change in texture, but that’s not necessary to the recipe at all. Add a salad for a pop of freshness.
Wine
On this occasion, I’d opened a bottle of L’Ecole 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 ($29, sample) and it was a perfect match. The wine had a mix of black cherry, plum, spice, and chocolate notes on the nose. There were similar notes on the palate, along with espresso, a hint of smoke, as well as lightly earthy notes. It was a very elegant wine with lots of brightness and smooth tannins. It was light on its feet, but also had a seductive quality that fit the occasion.
I received this wine as a sample as part of an ongoing program with L’Ecole to learn about their wines, so I had the opportunity to participate in a conversation with the winery to discuss it. It’s 100% Cab, but blends grapes from different sites on Columbia Valley to blend together aspects from the various sites. They recommend decanting it for 25 to 30 minutes for the best expression of the wine. We did just that.
I think it’s a steal for the price and it was so good in this combo. It became even silkier when paired with the dish. A seamless match!
To elevate the experience for our Valentine’s date night, I poured the wines in our Dragon Glassware Aura wine glasses. These were samples, but I have really come to love them. They’re just so fun!
I've partnered with Dragon Glassware as an ambassador. Click here to get the glasses for yourself and use the code "NICOLE10" for 10% off. I might receive a commission at no cost to you.
Leftover Makeovers & Pairings
As I said, I love a steak night, but I do recognize that eating a lot of beef isn’t terribly environmentally friendly, so we try to stretch out the portions. I love leftover makeovers anyways, so I thought I’d share how we remade the leftover steak over several meals. It might even inspire some additional ideal of your own. I made four meals beyond the original dinner, and not one of these meals felt like leftovers.
I’ll also share what wines paired with them and why. Most of these would have worked solidly well with the original dish as well.
We used slices of beef in sandwiches over a couple of different meals. I’d made sourdough ciabatta rolls, which took the sandwiches to another level completely, but any good bread will make for a great sandwich. Alternatively, you can fold everything up into a quesadilla.
The first pair of sandwiches I made combined slices of the beef with a little of the mushroom sauce spooned on top, with roasted red peppers, melted mozzarella, and wilted spinach.
I paired this with Sparkman Cellars Darkness Syrah Yakima Valley 2017, ($63, sample) which was bold and dark and rich, a matched these rich casseroles perfectly. You can find more details about this wine and pairing in this post.
Sous Vide London Broil with Smoky Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 lbs London broil
- ½ tsp shiitake mushroom powder, or as desired
- 2 to 3 sprigs of thyme
- 1 Tbsp, Worcestershire sauce
- Salt, as needed
- Pepper, as needed
- Olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp flour
- ¼ to ½ cup wine
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- Approximately 10 oz beech mushroom (feel to substitute in other mushrooms, but note alternate cooking instructions)
- 2 cups of beef stock (you can substitute in chicken stock or water, but the sauce will have a lighter flavor)
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- Cooking oil or fat of your choice, as needed
Instructions
- Set up sous vide immersion circulator and preheat water to desired final cooking temperature–129°-134°F for medium-rare.
- Sprinkle the beef with salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and mushroom powder.
- Place the beef in heavy-duty plastic bags suitable for sous vide cooking. Add a drizzle of olive oil and sprigs of thyme. Seal using a vacuum sealer or by slowly lowering ziplock bags with the steaks into the water bath, slowly pushing out the air. Once the bag is lowered the majority of the way into the water, zip up the remainder of the bag.
- Cook the beef in the water bath for 6 to 8 hours.
- When the beef is done cooking, heat a hot cast-iron skillet over medium-high or preheat the grill to high heat. Remove the beef from the bag and pat dry with paper towels, then coat lightly with a little cooking oil. (Make sure to save the juices left in the bag.) Finish the beef by searing/grilling for 1 to 2 minutes per side or until nicely browned.
- Remove the beef from the pan, then slice and serve topped with the sauce.
- Make the sauce while the beef is cooking.
- Sweat onions in a saucepot with a tablespoon or two of cooking oil (or fat of your choice) with a generous pinch of salt and pepper over medium to medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, or until soft and translucent. (If onions begin to brown too quickly, add a splash of water to slow down the cooking.) Add in the garlic and cook for another minute, then stir in the tomato paste and allow it to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the tomato paste begins to deepen in color. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for another couple of minutes; it will form a paste-like consistency with the onions.
- Note: If you’re using a heartier mushroom such as button or cremini, add them to the pot about 5 minutes after the onions.
- Deglaze the pan with wine, making sure to scrape up any browned bits. Stir in the smoked paprika, followed by the beech mushrooms, and stir gently to combine. Pour in the beef stock, then turn up the heat to bring the sauce to boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the reserved beef cooking juices. Continue to cook over medium heat until the sauce has reduced and thickened – it’s ready when it can coat the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Individual Leftover Makeover Steak, Mushroom, and Potato Casseroles
Ingredients
- Leftover potatoes, in this case, Hasselback potatoes
- London Broil
- Mushroom sauce
- Shredded mozzarella
- Shredded Parmesan
- (Optional) bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Slice up the leftover potatoes into rounds and cut the beef into pieces as desired.
- Spoon a little sauce into the bottom of two small casserole dishes, or one larger one that suits the size of the amount of food you have left.
- Add a layer of potatoes to the casserole(s), followed by a sprinkling of pieces of beef. Repeat the layers of sauce, potatoes, and beef until you’ve filled the casserole(s) or have used up all the leftovers, ending with a layer of sauce.
- Top the final layer of sauce with a small handful of shredded mozzarella, followed by a light sprinkling of Parmesan. I didn’t do it here, but a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs would be great as well.
- Place casserole(s) in the oven and bake until everything is hot and bubbly – about 20 to 30 minutes, but might vary depending on the size of your casserole(s). As everything here is already cooked, you just need everything to be heated through and the cheese melty and lightly browned. For a little extra browning, place the casseroles under the broiler for a minute or two.
- Remove the casserole(s) from the oven and allow them to set for a couple of minutes and serve hot!
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