My partner, Jeannie & I recently competed in a barbecue cooking television show, similar to the Masterchef franchise, called Cooks of Fire. In the first challenge we were tasked to cook both “low n slow” and “hot n fast” style dishes.
So, we planned to cook one of our own personal “hot n fast” favourites – reversed seared steak with a Roquefort blue cheese sauce and a medley of chargrilled seasonal veges. We have cooked this dish many times at home for friends and whanau and were confident that we would be able to pull it off in the time allowance of 30 minutes and that the judges would find the plate and flavours agreeable.
The cook went to plan and in the anxious moments whilst standing in front of barbecue royalty (the judges) the feedback was outstanding and the verdict was that we had “hit a home run!”. We got praise for textures, doneness, and flavours, with one judge exclaiming “the blue cheese sauce, punched me in the face and I liked it!”
So thought I would share the method using some exquisite fellow deer back strap steaks – these can be substituted for mostly any cut of steak but flat iron, scotch and ribeye are particularly pleasing for steak connoisseurs.
Jea’s Blue Cheese Sauce Method:
Ingredients:
- 2 x 100g Creamy Blue cheese
- 1 large white onion
- 2 Tbsp White Wine (Sauvignon Blanc)
- 500ml Fresh Cream
- 100g butter
Method:
- In a pot on the stove, brown the butter
- Add finely chopped onion and sauté till soft and coloured.
- Add wine and gently reduce
- Add cheese and stir to smooth
- Add cream as required and reduce to required consistency.
Steak Method:
- If present, trim away any silver skin or excess hard fat from the steak.
- Lightly season with salt and pepper
- Set your barbecue of choice up for indirect cooking (if unfamiliar with this technique, Google search your barbecue and “indirect” for help). Add some smoking wood splits – we use pohutukawa, but any fruit wood will pair well.
- Place the steak on to your barbecue indirect, close lid and have a beer!
- After approx 15mins and with a digital meat thermometer check steak and turn. Target internal temperature of the steak is 55c/130f for medium-rare doneness.
- Once the target temperature is achieved remove from the barbecue and wrap tightly in foil with butter for 10-15 minutes.
- Whilst the steak is resting get your barbecue cranking with plenty of heat and flames for the final searing phase.
- Remove the steak from the foil and place directly over the flames and turn every minute or so and remove when nice even dark crust is achieved.
- Slice the steak immediately, drizzle the blue cheese sauce over the top of the steak and serve with roasted (charred) vegetables of choice, or a fresh green salad.
It is hard to top a well-executed reverse seared steak with blue cheese sauce and is a crowd pleaser – even for the fussiest of judges!
Till next time – keep the coals burning!
Words & Photos: Kerren “Kezza” Packer – BBQ Writer