Birthday Dinner

So here's a little peek at what we had for lunch yesterday. It's our traditional steak au poivre with cognac cream sauce and french fries followed by a green salad.

The steaks are covered with crushed peppercorns.
They're pretty thick, and tied around the middle to hold their shape.

The meat is rumsteak. The cognac is actually armagnac. The cream is standard crème fraiche. :)

First the meat is marinated in pepper for an hour or two. Then it's seared in a hot pan and put to rest in a warm oven. While it's resting, the pan is de-glazed with the armagnac. Once that reduces a bit, add the cream and reduce some more. The steaks go back into the sauce to be served.

The finished steaks in the cream sauce.

This year we used green peppercorns. They have a very distinct flavor and it's a treat to use them on a steak au poivre.

Home made pumpkin pie for dessert! I grew the pumpkin myself.

That champagne glass down below is one that we got at the annual Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival back in 1994, when we actually lived in Sunnyvale, CA. My how time flies!

A sparkling Touraine Brut was consumed during the cooking process.

It was a great birthday feast! I can't wait to do it again next year.