Mushroom Sauce

My boyfriend loves steak.  Rump steak, sirloin steak, ribeye steak - it doesn’t matter, as long as it is big, thick and juicy.  And whenever we decide to cook steak for dinner, he handles the meat while I’m always in charge of the sauce.  The reason for this?  Because – without bragging – I make the tastiest, damn sauce you’ll ever try.  That is, without going to a Michelin star restaurant of course.  And after receiving countless snaps reading ‘give me the recipe’, I’ve decided to share it with you all.

Most of us will know the basics for a creamy mushroom sauce, with cream and mushrooms being the obvious main ingredients.  All you need to do is simply fry mushrooms in a small amount of butter or oil, add cream once browned and season with salt, pepper and garlic.  What could be better with a succulent steak? 

So when my boyfriend decided to cook steak for dinner last month, I knew exactly what sauce I wanted to make in accompaniment.

I began slicing mushrooms and added them to the pan for frying, along with a diced clove of garlic.  Once they were cooked, I opened the fridge to grab the… Crap.  I forgot to buy cream.  What kind of an idiot forgets to buy cream for a creamy mushroom sauce?  Me.  It’s like cooking Spaghetti Bolognese and forgetting to buy the mince, or the spaghetti, or the tomatoes!  Okay, so there are a lot of important ingredients for that one.  But still, I had no cream. 

I removed the mushrooms from the pan to prevent burning and started thinking about all of the cupboard essentials I had in the kitchen.  I had to quickly come up with an alternative: a roux. 

For those of you who are unsure as to what a roux (pronounced ‘roo’) is, it is one of the basic thickening agents used in cooking, primarily for sauces and soups, and is the base for many classic white sauces, such as Béchamel.  It provides an added richness to a sauce which makes it perfect for dishes such as mac ‘n’ cheese.

For those of you wanting to make my mushroom sauce for yourself, listen up (or is it read on?)…

Remember, I only use rough measurements!  So feel free to add a little more or a little less of the ingredients if you wish.  The following recipe will provide you with enough sauce for 2-3 people.

You will need:

-       6 large chestnut or closed cup mushrooms

-       1 garlic clove, chopped or minced

-       1 tbspn olive oil

-       1 tbspn butter

-       1 tbspn flour

-       300ml milk

-       1 glug of white wine, because who doesn’t love cooking with wine!?  And by a ‘glug’, I mean approximately 50ml

-       Pinch of salt and pepper

Now you have your ingredients, let’s start cooking:

1.     Fry the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil over a medium heat.  Once browned, set aside in a bowl

2.     Add the butter to the frying pan and melt over a low heat

3.     Add the flour and stir into a smooth paste

4.     To this, add half of milk, stirring constantly to avoid creating lumps in the mixture

5.     Once the mixture is smooth, add the rest of the milk and the white wine

6.     Add the cooked mushrooms to the mixture and season it all with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste

The longer you stir the sauce, the thicker it will become.  If you find it is too runny, keep stirring.  If it’s too thick, add a splash more milk. 

Your sauce will be ready to serve immediately but if you’re not quite ready to plate up, remove from the heat and then warm up over the hob when you are.  If this is the case and you end up waiting for your steak to rest, I suggest reheating the sauce while the steak is resting.

I hope you enjoy this sauce as much as we did!  Follow @ThroughHazelEyesBlog on Instagram to catch all updates and share your pictures using the hashtag #THEBlog :-) Don’t forget to subscribe, too!