In Its Raw State

When I was visiting Simon in Vancouver we went to a restaurant called Mistral where I had a Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce. I liked it, it was simple and flavorful and best of all, I could make it. So I sort of shelved the idea in the back of my head and set about my ways. Well, I've kind of been in the mood for some French-style cooking lately and figured this would be a good recipe to try and create. So I did, with fairly positive results.

Unlike Green Curry, green peppercorn sauce is more of a tan or brown color, since it takes on most of its color from the beef, not the peppercorns themselves. Green peppercorns are simply unripe peppercorns, so they have a milder flavor, which is how you can make a sauce of them and not burn your mouth. I used flank steak instead of sirloin or better for this, but only because of financial restraints. A nice seared piece of steak would be equally viable. My addition of black and white peppercorns raised the heat level a little bit and sort of took away from the green peppercorn flavor, which was kind of silly of me, but it was still a nice, peppery sauce to go with the meat.

I also made another dish that may as well be French because it uses Dijon mustard and potatoes, a very simple and very delicious Dijon Potato Salad. I nibbled on this occasionally as I was waiting for the steaks to finish and both Shannon and I were very satisfied with this on our plates and as leftovers. This just wouldn't be the same without Dijon mustard, but it wouldn't be bad, either. There's just a certain oomph that Dijon adds. Finally, just some Roasted Asparagus with Goat Cheese, a very nice compliment with a drizzle of lemon juice and a dash of kosher salt. The goat cheese melts with the lemon juice into a very luxurious sort of dressing.