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Steak à la Moutarde (Creamy Mustard Sauce) with Welsh Black Beef

April 27, 2012

I was inspired during a recent stay on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales to make a French-style dish using local Welsh ingredients. Steak Frites or steak and chips (but it sounds better in French) is one of our favourite ‘bistro-style’ suppers and I have lots of variations on one simple recipe. Sometimes I leave the steak whole and other times I prefer to slice the steak in thin slices. As well as using a good-quality moutarde, I also add a good twist of pepper or coat the steak in coarsely ground black pepper, adding a little stock and fresh cream, making it a bit more like Steak au Poivre. For a Stroganoff, I sometimes switch the mustard for tomato purée, adding a few spoons of sour cream instead of fresh double cream.  You can also start by gently frying some shallots or finely sliced onions, I happened not to have any, but I did have mushrooms, so I fried them in a little garlic oil before adding my steak.

Whatever the final dish, Welsh Black Beef is a pretty special ingredient and we always stop at the superb Glasfryn Farm Shop on the Caernarfon Road to stock up, as we sweep down the coast. They also sell Llyn lamb (used in this recipe for Welsh Lamb with New Potatoes and Asparagus) and they can also prepare a holiday hamper for you filled with local produce. Their Welsh Pedigree Black Beef is reared on their own farm estate, before being hung (matured) on the bone for 28 days and is hand prepared by the Glasfryn butchers. Once you’ve tried beef of this quality, it’s very hard to go back to any other kind, so we always make the most of this local produce whenever we visit North Wales. I also picked up a lovely jar of award-winning Welsh Conwy Mustard. It was wholegrain and tasted quite mild, though we were blown away by its flavour with the black beef.

[gmc_recipe 4022]

I’m sending this across to Jamie at Life’s A Feast in La Belle France who is hosting this month’s Monthly Mingle on behalf of Meeta at What’s For Dinner, Honey?  This month’s theme is April in Paris and though my dish was made with local Welsh ingredients, from the very first mouthful, I was instantly transported from the Welsh Coast to a Paris Brasserie!

I’m also linking this up to Family Friendly Fridays here on Fabulicious Food! My kids happen to like creamy sauces with mild mustard, though this quick dish could also be great for a gathering of friends or a laid-back Friday night supper with a good bottle of wine once the kids are asleep!  

Why not give this a go at the weekend?

I am a big supporter of local produce and received no incentive to write about any particular shop or producer. Welsh Black Beef is Wales’ native cattle breed.

 

Filed Under: Meat/Poultry15 Comments

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About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sally - My Custard Pie says

    May 3, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    My daughter adores creamy sauces with mustard too. Bookmarking this to remind me. Great to mingle with you Ren.

    Reply
    • Ren says

      May 3, 2012 at 11:01 pm

      Thanks Sally, I thought the Mingle was wonderful this month, so many lovely French recipes to try and I like the way Jaime split them up 🙂 Hope your daughter enjoys this someday x

      Reply
  2. Jeanne @ CookSister! says

    April 30, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    OMG it’s only lunchtime and now I am already hankering after dinner… This looks heavenly – I do a similar dish with pork chops for a quick and easy after work dinner.

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 30, 2012 at 8:14 pm

      Ooh now, pork chops would be wonderful with this sauce, and a splash of sherry…off to the shops!

      Reply
  3. Jamie says

    April 29, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Ren, I love this dish. And as you say, classic steak frites is what everyone seems to search out and eat on our first trip to France…and then continues to eat it forever, as it really is so delicious and comforting (for some reason). I love the very French version of a creamy mustard sauce! I will be making this for my family and they’ll love it! With frites, bien sur! Thanks so much for bringing this wonderful dish to my Monthly Mingle table!

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 30, 2012 at 11:10 am

      Thanks Jamie! I am so looking forward to the round-up to see what everyone else had sent across. It will be like a mini French cookbook! xx

      Reply
  4. A Trifle Rushed says

    April 28, 2012 at 10:41 am

    Delicious. One of those perfect French combinations, and something my husband and sons chose in our local Roscoff Brasserie, when they have had enough fish.
    Your version sounds perfect.

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 30, 2012 at 11:08 am

      Thanks Jude, sounds like a lovely Brasserie.

      Reply
  5. Mark Willis says

    April 28, 2012 at 7:03 am

    A classic recipe, Ren. When you have such good ingredients you don’t have to do much with them really – they speak for themselves, as it were. I wonder what the Welsh for “Steak and Chips” is. Maybe it sounds even more glamorous than “Steak Frites”!

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 30, 2012 at 11:08 am

      I have no idea Mark! I will find out!

      Reply
  6. Mary says

    April 27, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    My mouth is watering – GREAT recipe and one that my girls will love – thanks!
    Mary x

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 27, 2012 at 5:11 pm

      Thank you Mary, hope you get to try it some time.

      Reply
  7. Katie Bryson says

    April 27, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    Now then Ren, this looks SERIOUSLY good! Can I invite you over to cook me supper one night?!!!! I can almost taste that from looking at those pictures… so partial to steak and chips with a lush sauce to dip everything in… yummity yum!

    Reply
    • Ren says

      April 27, 2012 at 5:11 pm

      Thanks Katie, my goodness, I ate that plate of food so quickly! Can’t beat steak with a nice creamy sauce 🙂 Have a lovely weekend x

      Reply

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