Sometimes, a delicious Steak is just what you need to spoil yourself or that special someone. This dish is perfect for Valentine’s Day with the steak resting in a pool of luscious gorgonzola sauce. Plate it with a salad and some polenta and you’ve got a perfect romantic meal.
We paired it with a beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington!
A full dinner for Valentine’s Day!
If you want to do the day right, start with a cheese platter, move into dinner with this steak and gorgonzola sauce, do a side of cheesy polenta and a salad with arugula (good pepper notes to pair with the wine) and berries.
Finish dinner off with a chocolate tart with forest berries!
(Here are links to the cheesy polenta and the chocolate tart recipes.)
Now let’s dive into this steak recipe!
Steak with Gorgonzola Sauce
This is our fancy meal. To incorporate the polenta, salad, and tart into your menu, I suggest making the tart in the morning, so it can set in the fridge while you make the rest of your meal. Get your dressing for your salad ready in a jar (olive oil, macerated berries, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper), and then start your polenta. It can cook on a back burner while you make this dish.
Here’s what you will need for the sauce:
- 1 tbs unsalted butter or olive oil
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- 2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
And for the steaks:
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 6oz filet mignons
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tbs fresh chopped rosemary
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Directions
This dish cooks in two pans simultaneously.
- Preheat the oven to 400
- Season the steaks with salt and pepper
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat
- Add the shallot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Start your rod-iron skillet for your steaks, heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it is almost smoking.
- While this is heating, add your cream to the shallots and turn the heat up to medium-high. Bring this to a rapid simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. *Keep an eye on it, because it will want to boil over. Reduce the heat and stir as needed while you cook the steaks.
- Add the steaks to the almost smoking oil. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Flip the steaks, add 2 tablespoons of butter and your chopped fresh rosemary, basting the steaks with the butter.
- Cook another 3 minutes and then check the steak with a meat thermometer. You are looking to get this to 135 degrees or so for medium-rare.
- Put the skillet in the oven for another 3 to 5 minutes until it is at the proper temperature.
- When the steak is done, put it on a cutting board with tented aluminum foil to rest for 5 minutes.
- Back to the sauce
- Pull the sauce off the heat stir in the blue cheese, parmesan, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- When the steak is rested slice it against the grain at an angle.
- Plate this on a pool of the gorgonzola sauce and serve with a side of cheesy polenta and an arugula berry salad.
L’Ecole No. 41 2017 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine comes from Washington’s largest AVA the Columbia Valley AVA. It covers a full 1/3 of the landmass of Washington. It is sourced from vineyards across this AVA that L’Ecole No. 41 has built a relationship with over the years.
You’ll find a blend of fruit from a few vineyards in here: Candy Mountain, Estate Seven Hills, Alder Ridge, Klipsun, Summit View, Bacchus & Dionysus, Pepper Bridge, Stone Tree, Loess, Yellow Jacket, Estate Ferguson & Stone Valley
100% Cabernet Sauvignon – 5,600 cases produced – $29.00 SRP
Cabernet calls for red meat and our steak was perfect for that. It also goes well with blue cheese (as in the gorgonzola sauce) and parmesan, which we incorporated into the polenta we served as a side.
L’Ecole No. 41 is located in Walla Walla Washington in an old schoolhouse. You can read more about them here and here.
*We received this wine as a media sample. No other compensation was received. All opinions are our own.
Steak with Gorgonzola sauce
These dishes cook simultaneously and you will end up with lots of leftover gorgonzola sauce. That's really okay. It's so good on almost anything. I drizzled it on pizza the other night.
This is an elegant dish, but not too tough to make! Get the polenta going first and set that on a back burner to cook while you make the steak and gorgonzola sauce.
We paired this with a Cabernet Sauvignon and it was heaven!
The recipe came from "The Anthony Kitchen"
Ingredients
- 1 tbs unsalted butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- 2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 6oz filet mignons
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tbs fresh chopped rosemary
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400
- Season the steaks with salt and pepper
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat
- Add the shallot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Start your rod-iron skillet for your steaks, heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it is almost smoking.
- While this is heating, add your cream to the shallots and turn the heat up to medium-high. Bring this to a rapid simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. *Keep an eye on it, because it will want to boil over. Reduce the heat and stir as needed while you cook the steaks.
- Add the steaks to the almost smoking oil. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Flip the steaks, add 2 tablespoons of butter and your chopped fresh rosemary, basting the steaks with the butter.
- Cook another 3 minutes and then check the steak with a meat thermometer. You are looking to get this to 135 degrees or so for medium-rare.
- Put the skillet in the oven for another 3 to 5 minutes until it is at the proper temperature.
- When the steak is done, put it on a cutting board with tented aluminum foil to rest for 5 minutes.
- Back to the sauce
- Pull the sauce off the heat stir in the blue cheese, parmesan, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- When the steak is rested slice it against the grain at an angle.
- Plate the sliced steak on a pool of the gorgonzola sauce.
Notes
Serve this with a side of cheesy polenta and a salad with arugula and berries to play up to your Cabernet Sauvignon.
Valentines Day Menu Ideas
L’Ecole No. 41 Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Truffles
These delicious wine truffles are completely decadent. We created two, one with chopped dried cranberry inside, dusted with ground pistachio, and one with a touch of espresso powder inside, then dusted with cocoa.
The wine we used was the L'Ecole No. 41 2017 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon, which is also the perfect wine to pair with these truffles.
Thank you to L'Ecole No. 41 for the delicious sample that inspired these truffles.
Burgers with Mushrooms and Blue Cheese
Based on Bobby Flay's recipe for the Perfect Burger which keeps your burgers perfectly juicy! It's important to use at least 80/20 ground beef to keep the burgers juicy and the thumbprint? Well, a thumbprint in the middle is key to keeping the burgers cooking evenly.
We topped our burgers with sautéed shitake mushrooms, blue cheese, arugula, and bacon jam. (there is a recipe for that too!)
Steak with Gorgonzola sauce
These dishes cook simultaneously and you will end up with lots of leftover gorgonzola sauce. That's really okay. It's so good on almost anything. I drizzled it on pizza the other night.
This is an elegant dish, but not too tough to make! Get the polenta going first and set that on a back burner to cook while you make the steak and gorgonzola sauce.
We paired this with a Cabernet Sauvignon and it was heaven!
The recipe came from "The Anthony Kitchen"
Cheesy Polenta
Polenta is simple but takes a little time. I love cooking it in my Dutch Oven. I can get other dishes going while it cooks, and the big heavy dutch oven lid keeps the splatter down.
You can also pour your finished polenta in a dish or pan and refrigerate it, then cut it when it is firm and pan fry it. I like to do this and serve it covered in sautéed vegetables.
Bacon Jam
This bacon jam is based on a recipe from Mom's Dinner. We substituted dried cranberries for the raisins, which brings a bigger fruit note to the dish and paired great with the Cabernet Sauvignon we chose.
Bacon jam is life-changing. How did I ever live without this stuff! You can serve it with crackers or bread. The other night we topped a pizza with some. Quite honestly, had I been home alone, I would have made this and sat on the couch and eaten the whole bowl with a spoon.
Stuffed Vegan Portabella Mushrooms
This recipe has variations to be Vegan Vegetarian or Gluten-Free, depending on the breadcrumbs and cheese (or cheese substitute) that you use.
This is a dish that is great with Cabernet Sauvignon. Yes, red wine with a dish that isn't meat!
Grilled balsamic purple cabbage
This is a perfect side dish and it's vegan! The marinade gives this so much umami. With a stovetop grill pan this is a delicious grilled dish that you don't have to go outside for!
Chocolate tart with forest berries
This looks so fancy, but it's really easy. I found this recipe on Rachel Cooks. No-bake, 4 ingredients (+the berries and powdered sugar). So easy and delicious.
I suggest starting with a full pack of Oreos. For a 9 inch tart, use 32. Mine was actually an 8-inch tart pan, so I sadly destroyed too many Oreos. Somehow I ended up with just 3 left?
Oreos and melted butter for the crust, chocolate, and creme make a ganache for the filling and then berries to decorate just before serving. Pretty simple
Get artsy with your decoration. I used strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and mint, but you could use a variety of fruit. I think I might try adding just a little orange liqueur and candied oranges to decorate next time. There are so many variations you can take with this.
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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