Monday, November 14, 2011

Mushroom marsala sauce


My Husband's birthday was last week so of course I had to make him something delicious for dinner. Between the two of us, we couldn't decide on what he wanted. One thing was for sure: he wanted beef. And mushrooms. And wine. The first thing he suggested was beef burgundy, delicious indeed, but we'd recently had beef stew, which is very similar and I didn't want those flavors again. Yes, it's his birthday, but I'm in charge of the food! Beef Stroganoff was suggested, we haven't had it in a while, but I've made that plenty of times before. Steak, sure, but what can we do to make it more special for his birthday??

That's when my good friend Phyllis and I got chatting. She told me about a recipe she'd concocted using shallot & mushrooms, a bit of marsala wine, sour cream and Parmigiana done up gratin style. The timing of our conversation couldn't have been better!! Here was something different that would pair perfectly with the beef the Witchy Husband had requested. And it has wine, a flavor he'd been thinking about. And mushrooms! And sour cream!! I couldn't wait to get working on this delightful birthday treat!

Phyllis' original dish was done in a casserole and baked to melt and brown the cheese. I decided to morph her idea into a sauce that could blanket the steaks. I cooked the beef using the grilled steak technique I've written about before, except I seared them on my stove top in a cast iron skillet. The skillet was then deglazed after the steaks cooked so that lovely browned beefy flavor could become one with my sauce. The sauce was done in a seperate sautee pan, starting with the butter, shallots and mushrooms. Once the 'shrooms were deeply browned the pan was deglazed with marsala wine. After reduction the Witch added the deglaze liquid from the steaks pan, a touch of water and sour cream. The resulting sauce was rich, velvety, lusciously and deeply flavored. It was the PERFECT companion to the medium rare cooked sirloins. Birthday dinner perfection!! Happy Birthday Hon, I love you!


Mushroom Marsala sauce
makes 2 servings
Inspired by Phyllis Davis
8 large white mushrooms, sliced
1 medium shallot, fine diced
3T butter, unsalted
1/2 c marsala wine, dry
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 t thyme crushed
1 c water, divided
parmesean cheese, fresh grated, about 4T
2 steaks, pan seared using reverse sear technique
kosher salt and pepper


In a sautee pan melt butter over medium high heat. Once it stops foaming add the finely diced shallot and sautee until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and toss to coat in butter evenly. The mushrooms will absorb the butter, this is ok, just let them cook. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until mushrooms are deeply browned.

Deglaze pan with marsala wine. Allow to reduce by half. Remove from heat and add sour cream, slowly stirring it into the sauce. Add 1/2 c water to the sauce and stir well.

Deglaze pan that steaks seared in with remaining water. Scrape up any browned bits from the pan and add this to the sauce. Add the parmesean cheese to the sauce, stir well, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve over rested steaks.

*~*Kitchen Witch TIP: If you're cooking the steaks outside on the grill simply substitute the steak deglazing liquid with about 1/2 cup of beef broth.~*~
Nutrition Facts

User Entered Recipe

2 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories325.6
Total Fat29.4 g
Saturated Fat18.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat8.5 g
Cholesterol71.9 mg
Sodium37.6 mg
Potassium224.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate6.2 g
Dietary Fiber0.1 g
Sugars0.2 g
Protein2.8 g

15 comments:

Stephen C said...

The witch's husband is a lucky man. I'm going to make this sauce soon and use it on Salisbury steak.

Cranberry Morning said...

This looks absolutely delicious, Andrea! I would never order it at a restaurant because they seem to love to throw poison in at the last minute. LOVE home-cooked and clean!

Be sure to enter my Handcrafted SOAP'n'SUCH GIVEAWAY. Ends Friday night. :-)

Big Dude said...

The sauce looks awesome and the steak is just the way I like it.

Sarah said...

Oh yummmm!

Yenta Mary said...

Simple, elegant, and utterly sublime ... :)

Baking Addict said...

I love mushroom sauce and I happen to have some marsala leftover from another recipe. Cant wait to give this a go!

Lea Ann said...

I l-o-v-e Love Marsala. I've never tried to make it, and this recipe sounds wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

anthony stemke said...

This is a thoroughly wonderful sauce, would be good on other foods too.

Thank You.

Unknown said...

I'm a huge fan of deglazing! Love this dish Andrea! He's a lucky man!

Unknown said...

Mmmmmmmmm... sauce!!! Love this idea.. and it would be good on just about anything... even a little pasta :)

Kate from Scratch said...

This sauce sounds amazing! I love the mushrooms so earthy and rich.

Dawn @ Words Of Deliciousness said...

Sounds very delicious. I am going to have to try this for my family.

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

Vegan Momma said...

This looks so good and I know my rocket scientist is going to love it!!

I am new to you blog--your recipes sound great and I am going to follow your blog. I look forward to all your future recipes :)

Terra said...

omg I want this. I hope the Kitchen Minion had a lovely birthday... filled with meat and mushrooms :)

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...

Drooling. In my book this is the only sauce a steak would ever need.

Related Posts with Thumbnails