Whisk Wednesdays: Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style)

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style).   It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 158-159.  

      Steak and onions and potatoes, oh my!  Big hit here with my guys.  Definitely guy food.  I did, however, enjoy it also. 

      This was not fussy French cooking this week...this was more like bistro food, very down home and maybe fewer pans than we are accustomed to:  two for onion batches, one for steak, one for potatoes, and one for the broccoli (that was my own take on it as there wasn't quite enough green food going on with just the steak, potatoes, and onions with a bit of watercress tossed into the mix).  5 pans.  We've had worse weeks, believe me.   

      Everything came together simply and per the recipe directions.  I cut down on the butter and oil a bit as the French seem to have a very carefree attitude toward butter and oil. 

      Instead of decorating the plate with a few sprigs of watercress, I made the salad from it, some cucumber, oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper sprinkled over the top sparingly...very good.    

     

      The potatoes were boiled first (oh, that makes 6 pans, I forgot about that part in the pan count) and then cooled, peeled, and sliced before frying in butter.  The guys love these kinds of potatoes...they will eat anything that begins or ends with the word potato around here. 

      The onions for the steak had a sauce that made them absolutely delicious...a little wine, a little vinegar, a little stock...it doesn't sound like much, but it is what the French do best:  add depth of flavor.  I always have things out at restaurants and wonder what it is they do to get depth of flavor to the simplest of dishes...this is, after all, why I am doing this class with Shari, et al., to learn the secrets of those little mysteries.  It is amazing what just a simple little ingredient will do.  You know what?  You should come and join us!  You won't be disappointed.  And, when you serve these things from your own kitchen, it's your choice...you can either tell your guests the secrets, or NOT.  Let them wonder! 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 

Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 18, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, November 19, 2008):
Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream) page 498