Marchand de Vin Sauce
This sauce is rich and intense because the stock and wine used to make are both reduced by half, deeply concentrating their flavours. You can make the sauce ahead of time and reheat it. See Eric’s options for details. Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: About 40 minutes Makes: About 2 3/4 cups
Make beurre manié by placing 2 Tbsp of the butter and flour in a small bowl. Mix with your fingertips until well combined. Set the beurre manié aside for now.
Place the stock in a medium pot, bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until reduced to 2 cups (see Note 2). Remove from heat and set aside.
Melt remaining 1 Tbsp butter in a second small-to-medium pot set over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook two minutes. Mix in the garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Simmer wine until it has reduced to 3/4 cup (see Note 2).
Pour reduced stock into the wine mixture and return to a simmer. While whisking, slowly mix in the beurre manié, adding small amounts each time. Return to a simmer and simmer until the sauce lightly thickens.
Remove sauce from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and use as directed in the roast strip loin recipe (see Eric’s options).
Note 1: If using store-bought stock, use a type that has no salt or is low in sodium, because it will be reduced. If you don’t, you’ll end up with a salty tasting sauce. I used Kitchen Basics Beef Stock when testing this recipe.
Note 2: To gauge whether the stock has sufficiently reduced, pour it into a heat-proof, two-cup glass measuring cup. If you have more than 2 cups, return it to the pot and keep simmering. If you have less than two cups, top up with a bit of water until you have two cups. You can also measure the wine in this fashion, except, of course, that the reduced amount will be 3/4 cup.
Eric’s options: You can make the sauce up to a day before reheating it and serving it with the beef. If you do that, after it has cooled, keep refrigerated until needed. Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks, including seven in his Everyone Can Cook series. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.