Recipe: Pan-Seared Steak with Bock Beer Mushroom Sauce

Recipes title

Pan-Seared Steak
with Bock Beer Mushroom Sauce

The marinade for this simple steak recipe calls for roasted garlic, which tastes caramelized and sweeter than raw cloves and thus mellows the bitterness of the beer. The quickest way to roast a handful of garlic cloves is to rub unpeeled cloves with a bit of oil and bake at 300°F in a toaster oven for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice to prevent scorching on one side. Or, roast several whole heads of garlic at once, then separate the roasted cloves and double-wrap them in plastic wrap and foil. They will keep in the freezer for several weeks.

1/4 cup bock beer (for marinade)
1/3 cup olive oil
5 cloves roasted garlic
3 pounds flank steak
1/4 pound oyster mushrooms
1/4 pound portabello mushrooms
1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil (for sauté)
2 tablespoons finely minced onion
Salt to taste
6 ounces bock beer
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Dash hot pepper sauce

Blend the 1/4 cup beer, the 1/3 cup olive oil, and the roasted garlic in a blender. Place in a gallon-sized zip-seal bag with the flank steak, and refrigerate to marinate.

Wash and slice the mushrooms very thin (this can be done in a few seconds, using the 2 mm. slicing blade of a food processor and the wide feed tube).

Rub a heavy, nonstick 10-inch saucepan with the 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place over very low heat and gently sauté the mushrooms, sprinkling with onion and a bit of salt. Stir constantly to prevent sticking, and sauté until the mushrooms are almost dehydrated and crisp.

Stir in the 6 ounces of bock and the thyme and let simmer; the mushrooms will absorb the beer and return to tenderness.

While the sauce simmers, pan-sear the marinated steak in a heavy skillet set over high heat; a rare steak requires 8-10 minutes per side, while a welldone steak requires 15 minutes per side. Let the steak rest before carving; slice thin, across the grain.

Season the mushroom sauce to taste with salt and pepper sauce and serve a spoonful over each thinly sliced portion of steak.

Yield: 6 servings
Pairing: Maibock or Well-Hopped Bock

Cooking with Beer
Taste-Tempting Recipes and Creative
Ideas for Matching Beer & Food
by Lucy Saunders
Time-Life Books
November 1996
$12.95/trade paperback
ISBN: 0-7835-4832-X
Reprinted by Permission