Onion and White Stilton Sauce

This recipe is a weird one. No, that didn't sound as I meant it to sound. It's one with mixed reviews in this house. As in, my partner liked it, and I wasn't so keen. It was a bit bitter for me, but I have an incredibly sweet tooth and a neverending love of garlic in steak sauces containing onions. I think I'm going to stop cooking the onions until fully caramelised as suggested by the original recipe. They turn bitter after a while and it sort of spoils the sauce for me. I'm going to give you the recipe though as I'm sure others will enjoy it, and I'll also let you know how I prefer my steak... I expect you to be shocked, really...

This recipe serves two hungry hippo's (the man and me) but multiply as required or reduce the quantities you need if you want to have some self indulgence!

2 thick rump steaks
1 large onion, sliced fairly thinly (cut in half then slice)
1/2 pt double (heavy) cream
As much white stilton as you like - keep tasting as you add a small bit at a time
1/2 pt beef stock in case the sauce becomes too thick and you want it a bit thinner
Seasoning
Olive oil or any other that can stand a high heat


First, heat a griddle pan. Full whack from the word go. You want this to be smoking hot before you put the steak on, so open the windows and doors and be ready to fan the smoke alarm with a towel. I use the helicopter method but whatever works for you.


Place a wide bottomed frying pan over a low-medium heat, add a couple of tablespoons of oil and allow to heat a little. Add the onion and stir until coated with the oil. Allow to caramelise. This could take up to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the slices. I'd also suggest not letting them get as dark as the picture. When you think they need another few minutes and the thinnest ones are pretty brown, stop.

Once you're ready, add pretty much all the cream and a little stock, stir well and allow to simmer away until the sauce is reduced by roughly half. You can keep adding a little stock now and then if it's looking too thick.


Now that the sauce is a perfect consistency, taste it. If it needs some seasoning, add it. Take a knob of cheese and allow it to melt in the sauce. Taste again. If you're happy with the flavour, stop there. If not, keep going until you're happy. You can ideally use any kind of cheese, including cream cheese or blue cheese. Anything you fancy. Just be sure you're happy with the taste. Add a little more stock than you should and turn the heat right down. This will make sure your sauce isn't too think by the time your steak is done.


For the steak, rub with oil on the "up" side, then season liberally with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place oil side down in the griddle pan and stand back. DO NOT TOUCH THAT STEAK AGAIN UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO TURN IT! I give mine roughly 2 minutes on each side as my partner likes his somewhere between blue and rare. It's the same for me but mine are more on the blue side of life. This means 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Also, I don't rest my steak as they always get cold. It works for me though because once they're on our hot plates, covered with sauce and accompanied by stir-fried veg and chips, they rest a bit. We leave the best bit of the meal for last, which just happens to be the steaks.


To plate up, have your steak on first after you've heated up the plate. Then add whatever accompaniments you wish to add. Be it new potatoes, chips, veg or anything else. Finally, add your sauce and dig in. Yummy :)