Steak Diane is a classic dish known for its fire and flourish. Traditionally prepared tableside, it's a showstopper that combines tender steak with a rich, flavorful sauce. Pictured here with fresh garden asparagas and potatoes. Sauce Base: Vegetable Oil Tomato paste Flour Onions Carrot Garlic cloves (whole) Dry Red Wine Low-sodium Chicken broth Beef Broth Black Peppercorns Fresh Thyme Bay Leaf Salt & Pepper Steaks: Strip Steaks: New York Strip, Loin, or Sirloin: pounded to 1/2 inch thickness Sauce: Shallot (minced) Cognac/Brandy Dijon Mustard Butter Worchestershire Sauce minced fresh chives

Sauce Base:

1. In your favorite dutch oven or heavy cast iron pot heat vegetable oil and add chopped carrots, onion and whole garlic cloves (so they don't burn).
2. As they are frying, add a teaspon of tomato past and about a table spoon of flour. Mix and coat the veggies.
3. Add about a cup of red wine, 1.5 cups of chicken broth and 2.5 cups of beef broth.
4. Add peppercorns, fresh thyme and a bay leaf
5. Cook on high heat until liquid reduces from 4-5 cups down to 1 cup of thick brown sauce. about a half hour.
6. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired.
7. Once thick and amazing looking, strain with a colander to remove veggies and peppercorns. Press to squeeze out every drop of rich sauce and set aside. Discard Veggies.

Steaks:

1. Trim steaks to remove gristle and fat from the edges. You want clean meat, doesn't have to be fancy rib eye, but does have to be clean of edge fat.
2. Pound steaks to 1/2 thick.
3. Preferably using a stainless steel frying pan; add some more oil and once hot enough drop the steaks in pan.
4. Cook 1.5 minutes and flip.
5. Add a second pan on top of steaks after flipping them to press them down into the pan and cook for another 1.5 minutes on the second side. This prevents curling.
6. This should leave them perfectly medium rare.
7. Remove steaks to a plate and cover (tent) with tin foil.

Flambé:

1. Turn off heat, add minced shallots and cook for less than a minute using only residual heat in pan.
2. Add minced chives,
3. Add brandy and turn heat on to flambé and burn off Brandy. Refer to online videos how to do this. It's like flipping eggs. This deglazes the pan of the yummy meat leftovers in the bottom of the pan.
4. Add a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a couple tablespoons of butter and a healthy amount of Worcestershire sauce
5. Add your sauce base.
6. Add any meat juice/drippings from the resting steaks.
7. Whisk it up, remove from heat and smother your steaks with this amazing sauce!

 COMMENTS: Many online recipes avoid making the sauce base and instead use a heavy cream and mushrooms. That is a quicker method, but this red wine reduction takes it to a new level