Gaelic Steak Flambe – This recipe could bring the house down!
I thought that I would go ahead and do a recipe post for St. Patrick’s Day before the actual holiday. I cooked Valentine’s dinner on Valentine’s Day and I guess that really is too late if you are interested in trying this recipe yourself. We did have quite the flame while preparing the Gaelic Steak that evening and torching food is always fun, so this is a really cool recipe (especially if you are in the mood to impress someone with your culinary talents). 😉
I wanted to prepare a traditional Irish dish, but I wanted to switch things up from what everyone already knows – Corned Beef and Cabbage, Bangers and Mash, or Irish Stew. I had to find something different (because different is good). My hubby found this recipe online. Gaelic Steak Flambe is served with Sean’s Irish Champ (betcha never heard of that), which is a fancy name for smashed potatoes with scallions and a big, fat pat of butter. Yes, full fat, salted butter. I was also lucky to find a beautiful bunch of rapini which I served with the filet and potatoes. So, after many photos and time cooking this dinner, we had a lovely, Irish steak dinner.
This really was an incredible recipe for the steak and the potatoes. I changed the recipe for the steak quite a bit, so I will give you my version. The one thing that is the same is the Irish Whiskey. You cannot have a St. Patrick’s Day dinner without including that! 😉 I have made a few changes to the potato recipe as well.
Gaelic Steak Flambe
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 medium shallots, chopped
3 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
2 8 oz. fillets
Freshly ground coarse black pepper
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Irish Whiskey
3/4 cup half and half
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Have fillets at room temperature. Coat completely in black pepper.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat in an ovenproof skillet. Saute shallots for a minute or two, then add the mushrooms. Continue cooking until the mushrooms are slightly brown and the shallots are soft. Remove and set aside.
3. Turn the heat up in the pan. Saute the steaks quickly on both sides (this should take between 2-5 minutes on each side). The steaks should be nicely seared.
4. Put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to finish. *Mine took about 7 minutes. The fillets were a little over 1 inch thick. The temperature was 145 degrees at the center for medium. Remove the steaks from the oven and put them on a plate.
5. Melt the other tablespoon of butter in another pan over low heat. (I chose a copper oval fry pan because of how quickly and evenly it heats.). Add the steaks. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
Pour the whiskey over the steaks and ignite!
6. When the flames die down, turn the steaks over for about 30 seconds. Remove and tent the steaks on a warm plate.
7. Add the shallots and mushrooms back to the pan with the whiskey and slowly add half and half. Turn up the temperature a bit. Add Worcestershire sauce and salt to taste. Stir and cook a few minutes to thicken the sauce and pour over steaks.
Irish Champ
2 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 c. whole milk
Salt and pepper
Half and half to finish
Pats of salted butter
1. Boil potatoes in salted water, until tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Drain and return to pan. Stir and cook the potatoes over low heat until dry.
3. Heat the milk with the scallions in a small saucepan to almost boiling.
4. Mash the potatoes (I like leaving them a little rustic and chunky – it felt more Irish that way!)
5. Add milk, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste to potatoes. I threw in a few tablespoons of half and half for a richer taste.
6. Keep warm until ready to serve.
7. Serve with a big pat of butter (yes, that’s right!) on top of each serving.
Sauteed Rapini
Enough rapini for 2 servings
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
Good Olive oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boiling.
2. Add rapini and cook for 2 minutes. Remove and place in an ice bath. Then, drain until ready to use.
3. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet. Add garlic and saute for a couple of minutes (do not brown).
4. Add rapini and saute with red pepper flakes until hot enough to serve. Season with salt and pepper.
I would say Bon Appetit in Irish, but it would certainly not make sense to most of us (you would not believe what the translation looked like!). Instead, I chose something we are probably more familiar with – Erin Go Bragh!
Oh, and do not forget a great bottle of wine to serve with dinner. I think we deserved it after all of the time spent in the kitchen! Pride Mountain is a traditional California Merlot that is velvety smooth and has deep flavors of blackberry and dark fruit with hints of herbs and cocoa. It was an incredible bottle of wine and complemented the dinner perfectly.
great photo series – and I dont need to tell you how cool the flambe shot is!
Thanks! Maybe I finally got a hunk of meat to look good! 😉 Main dishes are really tough to photograph sometimes (as you know!). This was actually fun!
Great photos Bunky – and an even better dinner! Love the flambe shot. I think I might’ve singed my eyebrows had I attempted that LOL
Thank you for the comment! The dinner was delicious! It was quite the photo op…I have always thought flambe dishes are cool!
wow!! I bet you had a great great meal!!! I super love steaks!! Great tricks and skills in grilling the steaks by the way….
Thanks for the comment. Dinner was fabulous! This is a great way to cook steaks indoors. My son has asked me to fix this for he and his girlfriend this Friday night. The more flames the better! 🙂
That first shot of the steaks flaming is awesome! YUM – you’re making me crave some red meat. Great post!
Thank you! That was a pretty cool shot. We actually took a bunch of photos as the flames moved around and then finally dissipated. Pretty neat!
Great blog! I look forward to getting to know you as well. Sorry I didn’t reply on PW’s Tasty Kitchen – I haven’t had time to figure the messaging on that blog yet.
Anyway, great photos and yummy food!!!
🙂
ButterYum
Thank you for your comments and for checking out my blog!
Although I am not to be trusted with fire after a few recent kitchen mishaps, this looks so wonderful. And you picture of the flame is amazing! I’m going to hav eto give this a shot. Thanks!
Thank you for the comment. I find the best way to flambe anything is to use one of those hand held lighters (ours is made by Scripto). Be sure to either turn the heat off or have it way down low when you light the alcohol and then back away and watch it go! I keep my hand and all other body parts as far away as possible! Please don’t burn yourself or torch your home!! I thought about a warning – Don’t try this yourself at home, but then no one would make it! 😉 Good luck!
What an amazing shot Bunky; I just had to PIN it! And I love this Irish spin on Steak Diane. I’m not a whiskey fan, but I may have to try it anyway. Ot looks so good.
Cheers,
Jill & Mack (TT)
It’s St Patrick’s or St Paddy’s. Patty is an Americanism short Patricia which is definitely not Patrick .