In less than 30 minutes you can have a juicy steak with a scrumptious sauce in front of you.
If you are a long time reader of Greedy Gourmet, you might have seen your share of slow cooked meaty stews. There are plenty of advantages to eating the latter, e.g. the cuts used are cheap, the meat comes out amazingly tender and most of the time the leftovers can be frozen, great for quick weeknight dinners.
But you know what? Sometimes we fancy an old-fashioned, juicy piece of steak. If it still says “moo” or “baa” on my plate I’m even happier. Let’s not forget the sauce though! That’s paramount to completing the meal, whether it’s laced with cream or tinged with wine.
For those of you who are lucky enough to own a barbecue, you can simply grill your steaks and make the sauce on the side. Everybody wins!
Wine Pairing
Lamb is the ultimate spring-time meat and however it is cooked there is simply an affinity to Merlot.
The fast cooking in this recipe really enhances the flavours of the lamb and I have chosen Chateau Le Puy for Bordeaux to complement this quality. Merlot dominates the blend and thanks to careful grape selection and winemaking there is a purity to the fruit which manifests as ripe cherries, raspberries and plums. A slight savoury hint from a small proportion of Carmenére works perfectly with the meat whilst the fruit balances the stick shallots and brings the whole dish together. Buy it here.
Chinon is a village in the Loire Valley of France where red wine is produced using the Cabernet Franc grape. Cabernet Franc is a more rustic wine than the more popular and fruity Cabernet Sauvignon so for a simple lamb dish like this it is a great choice. The fruit is a subtle blend of black and red forest fruits to match the sticky shallots and a soft black peppery finish adds to the savoury, earthy quality which brings out the flavor and meatiness of the lamb. Delicious! Buy it here.
Download and/or print the recipe! Click HERE.
Lamb Leg Steaks with Shallots and Sticky Red Wine Sauce
Preparation Time: 5 minutes – Cooking Time: 20 mins
Ingredients
- 8 brown shallots, peeled and quartered but left whole at the root
- 2 lamb leg steaks, about 175g (6 oz) each
- 25g (1 oz) butter
- 60ml (4 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
- 175ml (6 fl oz) red wine
- 150ml (¼ pint) beef stock
- 5ml (1 tsp) redcurrant jelly [optional]
- Simmer the shallots in a pan of water for 2-3 minutes, then drain and set aside.
- Season the steaks with a little salt and plenty of crushed peppercorns.
- Heat half the butter in a pan until sizzling, then cook the steaks for 3 minutes on each side for medium or until done to your liking.
- Remove the steaks and keep warm. While they rest, add the remaining butter to the pan, throw in the shallots, then sizzle in the sticky pan until starting to brown.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and bubble for a few minutes.
- Add the wine and boil down until sticky, then add the beef stock and simmer until everything comes together.
- If you like a bit of sweetness to your sauce, add the jelly and make sure it dissolves completely.
- Spoon the shallots and sauce over the steaks and serve immediately.
Serving Suggestion
- Serve with green beans and chips.
Notes
- Beef steaks can be used instead of lamb, e.g. sirloin, rump, fillet and rib-eye.
This is right up my street. Lamb leg steaks are so quick and easy to cook. Delicious!
Another one bookmarked!
That looks fantastic – can I order it when I visit? (LOL don’t panic!)
Stunning, like the idea of rare lamb steaks….An inviting plate of food!!
Wow! Your recipes all look amazing! Just bookmarked your site! Thanks!
Oh wow, that looks wonderful – *love* the picture .
I did this last night – delicous.
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe and giving feedback, Mandy! It made my day.
Just cooked this meal and had with my girlfriend, it was delicious. Will defo cook this again, compliments to the chef!!!!!!
Jason: I’m so glad to hear you had success with this recipe. The sauce is so good we use it with different types of meat cuts, e.g. fillet/sirlion steak, minced beef patties, you get the idea. Happy eating!
This is a great recipe, I do very similar to this recipe whenever I eat lamb leg steaks.
Sometimes if I don’t have shallots, I use a red onions, a clove or two of garlic, add a bay leaf and a few pinches of crushed black pepper and the rest of the recipe is pretty much the same..
I always marinade the lamb too, with herbs, olive oil, a dash of balsamic and a clove of garlic either broken or crushed…
I serve with green beans, carrots and roast potatoes with herbs…
Great dinner every time…highly recommend…
Many thanks for your comment, Mr Bee. I haven’t come tried marinating my steaks yet but I’ll give it a whirl next time!
Taste great. I added rosemary and used cranberry sauce
Brilliant recipe i made mine with cranberry sauce also and served it with fondant potato yum
Lovely sauce – needed some sweetness added. But I think its more suited to beef because it killed the delicate flavour of the lamb – I could’ve been eating any lean meat. Will definately try again with rump steak.
I used this recipe this evening. I didn’t have shallots so I used some red onion and also added in some garlic and used the water I’d boiled them in to make the beef stock. Served with new potatoes (and a glass of red wine) and it was lovely – like the sweetness from the balsamic.
Hey Vicky, it sounds like you did a great job at improvising with ingredients you had at hand. Glad you like the recipe and thanks for letting me know!
Hi Michelle, this really is a fantastic (and simple) recipe. I’m currently learning as much as I can and I was wondering what effect, aside from holding them together, leaving the root on the shallots had. I didn’t do that when I cooked it as I’ve always been told to discard the root during prep – I’m assuming it’s perfectly fine to eat?
Truth be told, I only kept the roots in for photography purposes! When I don’t cook for the camera I chop them off.