Steak with l'Entrecote Sauce

Several years ago, when we were in Paris, Chris and I had dinner at le Relais de l'Entrecote, a strictly steak and pomme frites restaurant.  It was our first trip to Paris, and perhaps this was a tourist trap of a restaurant?  I don't know.  But we loved that sauce.  We loved the fact that they only served steak, pomme frites, and salad and that they had wonderful inexpensive wine.  We loved that they served half of your steak at a time so that you would have it hot.  I love that they knew their best dish and stood by it, daring to say we do this so well, it will be the only thing we offer.

Since then, I've been making my version of their sauce.  It has been long enough since we've been there that perhaps a field trip is in order to confirm whether I am close to replication or not.

Tonight, we are having grilled rib eye steak with l'Entrecote sauce and truffle french fries.  Select a well marbled steak.  Entrecote, by definition, is the meat between the ribs.  Here in the U.S., I think rib eye is the closest thing you can get unless you butcher the steak yourself.  Grill the steak to your liking - for me, it's rare.

For the sauce, I sauteed 2 shallots, minced, in 2 tablespoons of butter.  Once the shallots are softened, add a sprinkle of rosemary, thyme, tarragon and sage.  Then add 2 tsp of dijon mustard and a splash of white wine.   Bring to a boil until wine has mostly evaporated.  To that I added a mixture of 1/2 cup veal broth (remember the little cubes I had frozen when I made veal scallopini?) and 1/2 cup beef broth.  I heated just until my cubes of veal broth melted.  Put in blender to puree and return to pot and boil to reduce to 2/3 of original amount.  Add in 1/4 cup cream and reduce until thickened.

For the french fries, cut russet potatoes into 1/4" x 1/4" widths.  Soak in cold water until ready to cook.  Bring a vat of peanut or canola oil to 250f and par fry the potatoes until soft.  Remove from oil and then increase the temperature to 350f and fry until golden.  This creates a pillow soft center and a crispy shell.  Sprinkle with truffle salt immediately while the fries are hot, freshly out of the oil.  This will adhere the salt to the french fries. 

It's our family's practice to go around the table and tell our favorite part of our day.  As I'm typing this, I hear our friend say, it was this meal.  You know I am beaming.