Steak with Red Wine Sauce Recipe
This Steak with Red Wine Sauce recipe is a steakhouse-style dinner I love making from scratch in my own kitchen. I reverse-sear New York strip steaks and serve them with a rich red wine and beef stock pan sauce. If you want a meal that cooks in just 45 minutes and is impressive enough to serve to guests, this is a must make.
Ingredients
- 4 14-16 ounce New York Strip Steaks
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2 1/2 cups beef stock
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 peeled thickly slicked shallot, plus peeled small diced
- 6 whole smashed garlic cloves, plus 2 finely minced
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste, optional
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pat the steaks dry on all sides with a paper towel. Next, place them on a rack over a sheet tray. Season them well on sides with salt. You’ll use about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ teaspoons per pound.
- Place them in the refrigerator uncovered for 4 to 24 hours to dry brine.
- When you’re ready to cook, remove them from the fridge, place a thermometer into the center and place the steaks on the rack over a sheet tray onto a middle rack in the oven that’s been preheated to 250° F no fan. Cook until it reaches 100° F internally for a finished medium rare. This will take about 35 minutes.
- In the meantime, add the wine to a medium sized saucepot and reduce by one half over medium heat. This will take 5 to 7 minutes. Then, add in the beef stock and reduce by another one half. This will also take 5 to 7 minutes. Remove it from the heat and set it to the side. While there is still a few minutes left before the steaks are done, this is wen I prep the garlic, shallots, and butter.
- Once the steaks hit 100° F internally, remove the steaks and briefly let them rest at room temperature.
- Add the oil to a large sauté pan over medium high heat and cook until the oil begins to lightly smoke.
- Next take two steaks and put them together side by side. Using tongs squeeze them together and add them to the pan and sear the fat cap for 1 minutes.
- Then place the steaks down on their sides. Heat untouched for 30 seconds. Then flip it over and let it cook for 30 seconds. Turn it over back to the other side and move each steak around in a small circle to help it brown more for a total of 30 seconds. Flip it over a final time. Season with pepper and turn the heat to low.
- In the pan add 3 tablespoons of butter, half the smashed garlic, thickly sliced shallots, and thyme, and baste the steak for 1 minute. Set it to the side on a rack to rest. Repeat the exact same cooking process with the remaining 2 steaks and set them to the side on the rack.
- In the same pan drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Add the small diced shallots and cook for 1 minute. Then add in the garlic and anchovy paste and cook for 30 seconds.
- Deglaze with the reduced sauce and cook over medium to medium-high heat until it becomes thick, which takes about 3 to 4 minutes. Strain the sauce and finish with remaining 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I sometimes add an optional tablespoon of finely minced fresh thyme and parsley.
- To plate, thinly slice the steak and drizzle the red wine sauce over the top. Serve.
Notes
The biggest key to success for this steak with Red Wine Sauce recipe has nothing to do with the steak itself. It is being fully prepped before the pan gets hot, which means your mise en place is done and ready to go. Reverse searing gives you an extra 30 minutes while the steaks are in the oven. Use this time to portion the butter, smash and slice the garlic and shallots, pick the thyme, and get your wine reduction sitting off the heat. Walk up to a smoking pan with any of that undone and you will be scrambling. Trust me, scrambling is how you overcook a good steak.
Move the steak around as you sear: The technique looks a little weird because you are moving the steak around the pan, but it is how you get a brown maillard crust from end to end. More crust means more umami, and more umami means more flavor.
Do not be afraid of salt and pepper. Steak loves salt and it loves pepper, so season it well. The dry brine takes care of the inside, and a good crack of pepper during the sear takes care of the outside.
Do not skip the lemon: A little fresh lemon juice off the heat brightens the sauce and kills any bitterness from the reduced wine.
Let the anchovy work slowly: A little anchovy paste dissolves into the sauce and adds a Worcestershire-style umami that no one will be able to pinpoint. I highly recommend using it if you want to elevate the overall flavor of the dish.
Make-Ahead: I really mean it when I say this one is meant to be eaten as soon as it is done. The steak will overcook if it sits.
How to Store: I cover the steak and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Keep the sauce separate for up to 5 days.
How to Reheat: There's no perfect way to reheat a steak already cooked to temperature. I either re-sear it for 60 to 90 seconds a side in smoking-hot oil, or set it in a pan on a middle rack of a 350 F oven for 5 to 7 minutes until warm. I heat the sauce in a small pot over low heat with a splash of water if it is too thick.
How to Freeze: I do not think this freezes all that well, because the steak loses a lot of moisture and dries out on the reheat. What I do instead is cut the beef into smaller chunks and freeze it up to 3 months for soup down the road. The sauce freezes well covered for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 674kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 30gFat: 49gSaturated Fat: 23gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 163mgSodium: 394mgPotassium: 710mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 819IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 3mg