Steak au poivre

Crushed peppercorns, a hot pan and a sauce made in ninety seconds from what the steak left behind.

400 g — beef fillet steaks

15 g — cracked black pepper

5 g — salt

30 g — butter

30 g — shallot

120 ml — brown stock

100 ml — double cream

8 g — Dijon mustard

Crush the peppercorns coarsely and sieve out the dust. The dust is what burns and turns the sauce acrid; only the cracked pieces should go on the meat.

Salt the steaks, press the pepper onto both sides and fry in a very hot pan, three minutes a side for medium-rare. Rest them on a warm plate.

Pour off the fat, cook the shallot for thirty seconds and deglaze with the stock, scraping. Reduce by half, add the cream and mustard, and reduce until it coats a spoon.

Tip the juices that have collected under the resting steaks into the sauce at the very end. That spoonful is the most concentrated thing in the pan and most people throw it away.