#JacquesPépin @JacquesPépin #Quick&Simple @Quick&Simple #HMHCO @HMHCO
Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple. Jacques is not overpromising with that name. The recipes are just as delicious as you’d expect from him, but they are truly quick and simple. The book is totally newbie-appropriate. Most of them are super wallet-friendly, too, with ingredients like frozen vegetables. I’m so excited to share his recipe with you for Wine Merchant Steak. I’ve made many of Jacques’ different wine merchant steaks and this one is my absolute favorite. I love the addition of the Spicy V8. It’s fantastic. I’m going to try this as a bbq sauce, for a really flavorful, sugar-free option. I just bought crab to make his crab cakes and I’ll add that in later, but it’s Valentine’s Day, and this steak is perfect!!!
Excerpted from JACQUES PÉPIN QUICK & SIMPLE© 2020 by Jacques Pépin. Photography © 2020 by Tom Hopkins. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Steak Marchand De Vin
Serves 4
As the name marchand de vin (wine merchant) indicates, this steak is served with a red wine sauce. Traditionally a brown stock, or demi-glace, is used in the sauce; here I use a mixture of V8 juice and red wine instead, and thicken it with mustard to create a very satisfying, rich sauce.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 chuck-eye or New York strip steaks (about 6 ounces each and about 3/4 inch thick), trimmed of all fat
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine (about 1½ teaspoons)
1 teaspoon chopped oregano
½ cup dry red wine, such as Beaujolais
1/3 cup spicy V8 juice
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet. Sprinkle the steaks on both sides with the salt and pepper and sauté in the hot butter over medium to high heat for about 2 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Remove the steaks to a platter and set aside in a warm place while you make the sauce.
Add the garlic and oregano to the drippings in the skillet and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the wine and cook until the liquid in the pan has almost completely evaporated, then stir in the V8 juice and water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 30 seconds. Mix in the mustard and just heat through.
Arrange the steaks on individual plates, coat with the sauce, and serve immediately.
A wonderfully rich-tasting sauce is created easily here with wine, V8 juice, and mustard.
Let me tell you about the rest of that book!
Sausage with Broccoli Rabe – Easy peasy, super healthy, and flavorful.
Steak Marchand de Vin – Love! I’ve made many of Jacques’ different wine merchant steaks and this one is my absolute favorite. I love the addition of the Spicy V8. It’s perfect. I’m going to try this as a bbq sauce, for a really flavorful, sugar-free option.
Fillet of Pork with Sauce Charcuterie – This is a fantastic idea! I love cutting the portions from the tenderloin. The sauce is divine with it.
Red Pepper, Artichoke, and Olive Salad – The salad is like a charcuterie board salad. I love the idea of serving it in lettuce cups. I need to make them double layer next time.
Marinated Mushrooms – These were quick to pull together as a component of the red pepper, artichoke and olive salad, with plenty left over for another day. We loved the flavor.
Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Corn Tortilla Pizzas – The kielbasa, salsa, and tortillas made me think it was more like an open-face quesadilla, but we really loved these for a quick lunch.
Jardiniere of Vegetables – Fabulous. I’ve made this one several times. Back in September, I was participating in an 800 grams per day produce challenge, and a lot of participants were expressing monetary concerns with the challenge, so I pointed everyone to this recipe. 20 ounces of frozen vegetables. It gets no more budget-friendly than that. These are flavored with a bit of pancetta, posh Italian bacon, so they’re wonderfully flavorful. My little girl came in and said, “Those little cup vegetables” and made a chef’s kiss gesture. Yeah, they’re really yummy.
Crabmeat Croquettes with Tomato Relish. These are fabulous. Jacques says you can make them ahead of time and reheat them with a quick trip under the broiler, so they’d be lovely to entertain with! I made these on day 4 of freezing snow, intermittent power outages, with occasional trickling water and heat. That all you need is a lighter to get the gas stove going to get these done amused me. I brought them outside for photos so you could see them since I was working without lights inside. Not kidding about easy!
*I received a copy to explore and share my thoughts.
Need more Jacques? I’ve got you!
Jacques’ Quiche with bacon and cookbook review: Essential Pépin
Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen
Pinterest? Sure!
Here’s a link to all my boards.
Here’s a link to my recipes on Pinterest.
Here’s a link to my cookbook reviews on Pinterest.
Need anything? I’m an Amazon Affiliate. Any time you use one of my links to get to Amazon to make a purchase, Amazon gives me a tiny percentage. I put it back into next year’s blog fees. Thank you!
Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple
Essential Pépin
Jacques Pépin Heart and Soul in the Kitchen
Spicy V8
It’s actually way cheaper on Amazon. I get it shipped by the case like a delicious produce insurance policy. Faux Bloody Marys.
You buy V8 by the case?!? Wow, now that I know you can use it as part of a steak sauce, I guess I won’t just think of a lady with rollers, and a cigarette yelling for another Bloody Mary!
😀 Bahaha! Yeah. I’m addicted to spicy V8. So are the kids!
V8, huh? I’ve had mixed reactions to these recent publications about easy cooking. I liked the Milk Street one, but dad wouldn’t eat most of those things. I felt like Ina Garten’s was very basic, and I only kept one recipe out of it (which is fairly complicated thing involving saffron and cod that I want to try — maybe not complicated but pricey). I used to have that Mark Bittman 5 ingredient cookbook (and lost it unfortunately), but liked that quite a lot.
I watch Jacques a lot on FB. I find him very relaxing to watch. His wife died recently, but his friends and remaining family seem to be circling around.
Good to know. I didn’t buy Ina’s last one and I don’t have the Bittman one.
Yeah. It’s heartbreaking to see that Jacques lost Gloria.
I’ve got the public library’s copy in hand now, and this is a really solid offering — probably the best in the genre that I’ve seen. Particularly the meat recipes are mostly on dad’s wavelength. Have you tried the pork loin with prunes recipe?
You know what’s great about monsieur Pépin? He’s monsieur Pépin. What a seemingly lovely man. During the pandemic he’s put a short cooking demo on facebook on a daily basis, and even started up again after his wife of 100 years died. I don’t really want/need cookbooks that are about short and simple, quick and easy, although I am aware that some of the most amazing recipes could only have 3-4 ingredients. But I love what you put on this post.
Yes. It’s heartbreaking to see that he lost Gloria.
Wait you forgot to share the recipes…lol They look fabulous…everyone!
Love! I have the mushroom risotto recipe! Maybe I should do that one!
Sounds good to me! Do you know I have never made risotto? No reason why I haven’t just never think of it..lol
A Beautiful meal!