Pork Blade Steak with Tarragon-Mushroom Cream Sauce

May 23, 2011  •  Meat & Poultry, Sauces

pork-blade-steak-with-tarragon-mushroom-cream-sauceWow, is that title a mouthful or what?! Sometimes you’ll see bloggers separate dishes like this into multiple posts, but I ate this together, so I’m posting it together too.Let’s start with the sauce, which begins with caramelizing mushrooms. When they are nicely golden brown, add a clove of minced garlic and some flour and stir together well.Then add the milk/cream/half and half (your option) and tarragon (mine is already 2 feet tall so I feel it’s time to start cooking with it!), and simmer until it thickens. You can hold it on a low simmer to keep warm while you cook the blade steak.So what the heck is blade steak, you ask? Well, beef blade steak is cut from the shoulder and tends to be a bit tough, so does better with braising. But pork blade steak is cut from the Boston butt primal cut and is tender enough to grill or pan sear. And it’s cheap – one of those so called “lesser cuts” that just happens to be packed with juicy flavor. I like to pan sear it in some extra virgin olive oil. As I once learned from watching a Michael Chiarello show, you know the meat is ready to flip when you see the juices have been pushed up to the top. This is pork, so you want it to stay a bit pink, but probably cooked a bit longer than you would a beef steak. And I find pork needs plenty of salt and pepper before cooking.Make sure to wrap it in foil to rest for at least 5-10 minutes before cutting into it, then trim away the excess fat (there’s quite a bit of it on a blade steak) and serve.The pork is a perfect “carrier” for the sauce.Although the sauce would work well also on chicken breasts. Enjoy!

Pork Blade Steak with Tarragon Mushroom Cream Sauce
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe type: Entree,Sauce
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms
  • 1 clove garlic, minced fine
  • 2 tablespoons minced tarragon
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 cup milk, half and half, or cream
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 pork blade steaks, about ½ pound each, bone in
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat oil and butter in a skillet and add mushrooms; cook over medium heat until all the water has been released and the mushrooms are nicely caramelized. Add garlic and cook for one minute, then add tarragon and flour and stir together. Add milk, whisking constantly to avoid lumps, and stir until thickened. Set sauce aside on simmer.
  2. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Season steaks well with salt and pepper, then cook until medium well turning after 5-7 minutes per side. Wrap steaks in foil to rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting into them. Trim bone and fate away from steaks, then serve with sauce over the top.

 

Comments

6 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Barbara | Creative Culinary says:

    This looks fabulous but I must say the thing I’m most excited about? A new recipe needing tarragon. I grow it too and I use so little compared to how much that grows that I’m super happy to have something other than chicken to cook it with.

    Next time our group meets here I should send them all outside. Tarragon, oregano and thyme are prolific. Seems the huge sage bush might need replacing but will have plenty by fall!

  2. An Alaskan Cooks | Alaska Food and Wine says:

    I love tarragon but admit I’ve gotten into a rut by using it in chicken recipes. This quick and easy sauce gives me another outlet for the herb.

    Now if someone could just gift me with a green thumb so I can grow my own tarragon and other herbs, then life would be great. Until that time this brown-thumbed cook will have to rely on fresh organic herbs from the market.

  3. Chad @ thebreakupnote says:

    This is absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

  4. alyce says:

    looking forward to trying this cut!

  5. DB says:

    Hi Michele,

    Glad to see a recipe profiled usking pork shoulder blade steaks, because I gew up eating them, but haven’t found very many recipes online that use them. It looks very flavorful and congratulations making the foodbuzz top 9!

    Cheers,

    DB
    Fremont, CA

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