Every Sunday, I’m going to be posting about Fiance and I’s experiences in Cape Town, South Africa, from adventures to culinary explorations.
One of the many new and interesting fruits we’ve discovered since coming to South Africa is the Cape Gooseberry. They kind of look like orange grapes and taste like a sweeter blueberry. They’re closely related to tomatillos and have the seeds and texture of a tomato.
But most importantly, they’re really pretty and make food more fun to eat.
Generally, I’m a steak purist. Steak sauce? Horseradish? Hot sauce? Why would I ever need a condiment for my steak when its glorious meatiness is so wonderful on its own? Just season it well and cook it in some butter, and I’m happy as can be.
But this steak sauce was calling to me. I recently got the cookbook Tastes of Africa and it is chock full of incredible recipes (note: this is not a plug- I just really like this cookbook). The original recipe uses ostrich steaks, which I was totally going to use and was very excited about, but my grocery store was out. So t-bone steaks were used instead.
Side note: ostrich is super delicious. It’s like a leaner beef. We went out to dinner last week and I had medium-rare ostrich with a green peppercorn sauce. It blew my mind. I don’t know why we don’t eat ostrich in the US.
First off, the sauce. This recipe starts as any proper sauce recipe does: with melted butter.
Then onion. Lots and lots o’ onion.
Once the onion is cooked down, add some flour and brown it just a bit.
Then another essential sauce ingredient: wine. White, this time. Is there anything better than the smell of cooking white wine and butter?
Followed by some chicken broth, salt, and pepper.
Let it simmer for a while until the wine is cooked down a bit and the sauce thicker. Then the fun stuff: balsamic vinegar and gooseberries.
Grill up some steaks (ostrich, if you dare!) and pour the sauce over the top.
We had our steaks with a butternut squash and sweet potato mash that was delicious with the balsamic sauce. Butternut squash is also incredibly popular here, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
Get the Recipe:
Steak with Balsamic Gooseberry Sauce
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups gooseberries
Steak:
- 4 t-bone steaks, bone in
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft.
- Add the flour and cook until barely browned. Add the white wine, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and gooseberries and let simmer for three more minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
- Pat the steaks dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.
- You can grill the steaks or cook on the stove. To cook on the stove, heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat. Once very hot, melt the butter in the pan. Sear the steak for two minutes on each side then check for doneness by poking it (the firmer the steak, the more well done it is). Continue cooking for 30 seconds on each side until done to your liking. Let steak rest, covered with foil, for five minutes.
- To serve, pour sauce over steaks. Serve with butternut sweet potato mash.