3. Potato gratin. Slice up 5-10 potatoes and spread out in a buttered oven safe tin. Not too low sides since the gratin benefits from keeping most of the juices from the potatoes and the cream, liquid under the melted cheese top crust.
Pouring cream into the gratin.
We used one onion in slices, black pepper, some salt, 1-2 crushed cloves of garlic and 3-4 cups of cream, mixed with grated cheese. We also used a mixture of hard cheese and a generous chunk of Gorgonzola. The garlic should be well blended with the cream before pouring, so that it doesn’t come out in clumps and patches.
4. Bake some tomatoes
A super easy way to cook them is to give them a few minutes in the microwave oven and when hot, top them off with some butter and a couple of twists of black pepper. Then bake until lightly crisped in the oven together with the gratin until both are done.
Baked tomatoes can double as a side dish and sauce to this dish.
5. Fry the beef in some butter. Use high, lowering to medium heat.
Entrecôte is a very flavourful cut and should be marbled with fat and tendons.
What we prefer is a well marbled piece of meat for this dish, leaving everything in as it comes from the butcher since the meat becomes all the better from that. A cleaned and tidied up entrecôte steak is a ruined entrecôte. Throw away or give it to the cat.
Gratin, out of the oven.
6. Serve.
The steaks need a few minutes to calm down after frying or they will appear dry. Take out the gratin to serve and serve the steaks with a small scoop of melting parsley butter on top. As for wine, anything red that says Cabernet Sauvignon somewhere on the label is probably fine. I’m happiest when the label says Rhône too, but some wines from the Napa Valley could rival the best and should be taken seriously.
Enjoy!