For a short time this fall, a very nice friend hired me to cook a couple dinners a week for their family.  I needed to supplement my daughter Allison’s meager earnings as an English teacher in Spain, so she could afford a plane ticket to come home for Christmas. It was a fun experience; my friend would text me what she was craving for dinner.  I’d scramble around to find recipes and run to the grocery store to get the ingredients. One day she wanted, “Pieces of steak in a mushroom sauce that could be put over mashed potatoes”, and this recipe was born. Since then, we have had it at our house several times and it’s always a hit. The trick is to make sure the whisk is employed. If it is diligently used and a little elbow grease is applied, the luxurious velvety mushroom sauce is well worth the effort!

Ingredients for Four Servings:

1 1/2 pound sirloin tip roast

1 carton of mushrooms

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/4 cup flour

2 cups beef broth

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash, rinse, and slice mushrooms. Cut meat into 2 inch wide strips and set it aside.

Peel and chop shallot. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in skillet and saute mushrooms and shallot until tender. Peel and mince garlic clove. Add to mushroom mixture and saute for 30 seconds.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the mixture into a baking dish, leaving the pan drippings still in the skillet.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the same pan. Allow butter to melt, then over medium heat, brown both sides of the meat pieces.  It will have to be done in two batches so the pan isn’t too crowded and the meat strips have a chance to brown – about three to four minutes a side. When the meat is done, add to the mushrooms in the baking dish.

Put the skillet back on the heat and pour the 1/2 cup of wine in.  Bring the wine up to a boil and scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down to medium.

Sprinkle the flour over the wine and whisk it in; it will be thick and pasty. Then, a bit at a time, gradually add the beef broth while whisking constantly until the liquid is smooth.  Add in the salt, pepper, and thyme. Keeping it over medium heat and whisking often, cook until the mixture thickens up.  This will take about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the meat and mushrooms in the baking dish and give it a stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes, or wide noodles.