Steak with Mushrooms (Carne con Champiñones)

Name: Steak with Mushrooms
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 4 beef steaks; 500 g mushrooms; 4 tablespoons butter (two for the meat, two for the mushrooms); 1 cup onion (finely chopped); 3 cloves garlic (minced); 1 teaspoon thyme; 1/2 teaspoon cumin; 1/4 cup beef broth; 1/4 cup heavy cream; Salt and pepper

Steaks seared in butter and lifted out, then half a kilo of mushrooms browned in the same pan with onion, garlic, thyme and cumin, loosened with beef broth and finished with cream. Twenty-five minutes, four servings.

Total: 25

JUMP TO RECIPE

One pan, two stages

The steaks are seared in two tablespoons of butter, seasoned with cumin, thyme and pepper, then lifted out. Only after they are out do the onion, garlic and mushrooms go in with the rest of the butter.

This is not fussiness. Half a kilo of mushrooms holds a great deal of water, and they release all of it before they begin to brown. Add them to a pan that already has four steaks in it and the whole thing floods, the temperature drops, and nothing browns at all.

The steaks go back in at the last stage, with the cream, and only for long enough to warm through.

Waiting for the mushrooms

Four or five minutes over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. For most of that time the mushrooms will be sitting in their own liquid looking unpromising. Leave them.

When the water has gone, the browning starts, and it happens quickly. That is the point to move on.

The broth is there to scrape with

A quarter cup of beef broth is not much liquid, and it is not meant to be a sauce on its own. It goes in to dissolve everything the meat and the mushrooms left welded to the bottom of the skillet.

Scrape while it cooks for those four minutes. What comes off the pan is where the depth of this sauce comes from.

Cream, and not boiling it

A quarter cup of heavy cream goes in with the steaks, the salt and the pepper, and simmers for about four minutes until hot.

Hot, not boiling. Cream that boils splits, and a split cream sauce cannot be brought back. Keep it below a bubble and take it off as soon as it is heated through.

More beef

Grilled beef — the plainer treatment.
Roast beef in tomato sauce — slower, with a different sauce.
Mushroom rice — for the rest of the punnet.
Creamy mushroom chicken — the same sauce, with chicken.

Steak with Mushrooms FAQ

Why take the steaks out of the pan?

So the mushrooms can brown. Four steaks and half a kilo of mushrooms in one skillet at the same time will steam rather than sear, and everything the sauce tastes of comes from browning. The steaks go back in at the end with the cream.

Can I fit all four steaks at once?

Only in a wide skillet. Crowded meat releases water and boils in it, which leaves it grey. Cook them in two batches if there is any doubt: it costs five extra minutes and it is the difference between browned and steamed.

When does the salt go in?

Late, at the same time as the cream, which is how the recipe is written. The steaks are seasoned with cumin, thyme and pepper when they go into the pan, and the salt comes at the end.

Why is the cream not supposed to boil?

Boiled cream splits: the fat separates out and the sauce turns grainy. Bring it up to hot and hold it there for the four minutes the recipe asks for, without letting it bubble.

What is the beef broth doing?

Loosening the fond. After the meat and the mushrooms, the bottom of the pan is covered in browned bits stuck to it, and a quarter cup of broth dissolves them back into the sauce. Scrape while it cooks.

Do the mushrooms need slicing?

The recipe does not say, which means whole or halved is fine for small ones. Whatever you do, cut them evenly, and expect them to give up a lot of water before they start to colour.