(bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(bright upbeat music fades) (upbeat music) Welcome back to the "Dapper Dad's Dinner Table" with your host, Tim Harris.

I'm glad to have you.

Today, I've got a really special recipe and a really special someone's gonna be joining me.

Tonight's focus is gonna be date night.

As a busy parent, it's wonderful when you have some time just alone, the two of you.

My kids are staying the night with their cousins at the farm.

So tonight we're gonna do a little French dinner with a twist.

Stay tuned.

(bright upbeat music) All right, welcome back.

We've got everything ready to go for our steak au poivre, steak frites.

I'm gonna like to introduce you to that special someone, my wife, Ashlee.

Hey there, how are you?

(lips smooching) Okay.

- How often do we cook together?

- Not very often.

We basically have a day where you are in charge of cooking and then a day where I'm in charge of cooking.

Very, very rarely do we get together to be able to do this.

- I know, so this is a really cool experience.

We get to be in the kitchen actually cooking together.

Hopefully we won't be stepping on each other's toes and bumping each other outta the way.

So I know that you love steak.

- I do.

- [Tim] You like to try new things and different things?

- I do.

- So what we're gonna do here today, is we are gonna do a steak au poivre.

- Okay, a what?

- A steak au poivre.

- Okay, say that a little slower.

- Steak au poivre and fries.

- Okay.

- [Tim] Peppercorn.

It's gonna be a peppercorn steak with fries, steak frites, if you will.

- [Ashlee] Okay, got it.

- We're just gonna kick it a little kind of French thing.

We've got some wonderful ingredients, black peppercorn.

It's actually gonna be very simple, but we're gonna make it look fancy- - Fancy.

- And finish fancy.

The key to this is going to be a wonderful pan sauce.

- Okay.

- Some people find it a bit of a challenge, but it's actually pretty, pretty easy.

And we're gonna try to pull that off here together.

I think we can do it.

- Okay, I'm really good at taking instructions- - Taking instructions, following directions, so- - You point me in the right direction in what you need your help with.

- People ask all the time.

"Tim, you do my, "how does your wife, "she's so lucky, you do all of the cooking."

No, that is not true.

I do not do all of the cooking.

- Some of the cooking.

- I do a lot of the cooking, you're right.

But my wife does a lot of cooking as well.

I guess the biggest difference in the two of us is, you are- - I follow a recipe.

- Follow a recipe.

If it's on a box, in a book, in a magazine, whatever, she can recreate it and it will look just like the picture.

- Picture.

- I'm more of the creative cook in and out of the pantry.

I'm trying new things.

Well, good question.

If you saw this recipe on social media, in a magazine- - Would've never picked it.

- [Tim] Bravo?

- Nope.

Wouldn't have picked it.

- [Tim] You wouldn't have tried it?

- No, wouldn't have picked it.

- What if you saw this on a menu at a restaurant?

- Yeah, I probably would've tried it.

- But you wouldn't try to make it yourself?

- No, definitely not.

Too complicated.

- I don't know, I'm gonna put the, well, maybe we can just kind of demystify it.

- [Ashlee] Let's do it.

- I'm not gonna say that it's simple, but it is a, it's got a little, it's complex.

- Okay.

- Not complicated, complex flavors and everything.

All right, so for this, basically at the end of the day, we are gonna have a wonderfully cooked steak with a peppercorn sauce, a creamy peppercorn sauce over super crispy french fries.

Steak frites, steak au poivre-style steak.

I think it's gonna be really great.

First thing we're gonna do, we're gonna start off with the french fries 'cause they are gonna, out of these components they are probably going to take about the longest, and we're gonna go ahead and get those in the oven.

Alright, we'll go ahead and put these on here.

Spread 'em out- - Now do we need to put anything on the fries or on the pan?

- No, we're just gonna- - As we get started?

- When they get done, we'll go ahead and salt them a little bit when they're done.

But other than that, that should be enough for the two of us right there.

- Okay.

- We'll go ahead and get that taken care of.

And then what we're gonna do is, we are gonna go ahead and get our pot heated up.

- Okay.

- Pan, this skillet was my grandmother's, I inherited it.

I found it in a box of her belongings and things.

There was just some three other skillets in a box wrapped in newspaper.

They were in pretty bad shape, but I was able to restore 'em all.

And by the markings on this one, the best we can get, this one's probably close to like 85, possibly 100 years old.

But they clearly don't make things like they used to, 'cause this thing looks brand new.

It holds heat evenly and well, and we're using something a little new here at the "Dapper Dad's Dinner Table."

I've got an induction cooktop, so that way I can just face you guys all the time.

I don't have to turn the back to you.

It is a induction cooktop.

So the surface, although it will get warm and it'll get hot, it's actually, see it's, how long have I had this on there?

It's already smoking- - Just a couple seconds.

Yeah.

- The oil on there.

It's actually heating the pan.

The key to using one of these, it's great if you wanna do like an Asian hot pot at the table, or something where you're cooking at the table, like even a fondue.

The only key is you've gotta make sure that you've got an iron pot, pan, whatever.

Cast iron of course works really great and, but if you're wondering which one to get, you can always just have a magnet, a refrigerator magnet.

If a refrigerator magnet will stick to it, it'll work.

So it's heating up a lot quicker than I thought it was.

We'll go ahead and get a little bit of oil in there.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- Get that going.

I'm sure that a lot of people are gonna wanna know how we met.

- That's a very interesting story.

- It is.

- So when I met Tim, he was traveling a lot.

- [Tim] Traveling a lot for- - And I was really just starting my career.

So we actually met online, we met on match.com, 11, oh no, 13 years ago- - 13 years ago now.

- It will be, 'cause we've been married for almost 11.

And he was my last date on match.

- [Tim] You were mine.

- Yeah.

So kind of a cool story.

11 years ago people didn't meet online- - As frequently as people do now and everything, so.

- Yeah.

But the funny part about the story is that when we did meet, people would ask where we met and I said- - You were kind of weird about sharing that- - We were a little embarrassed about where we met.

So we actually told people that we met backpacking through Europe.

- Backpacking through Europe.

(Ashlee laughing) - And it's so- - And our good friends never put two and two together that neither one of us had singularly gone backpacking through Europe.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I guess they just wanted to ignore the fact.

- Yeah, I agree.

I personally thought that it was a really cool date idea.

So all of the other guys that I had dated said, "Why don't we go for dinner?"

And he was like, "Why don't we go for brunch?"

So we met for brunch.

We actually had our rehearsal dinner at the same restaurant that we met for brunch at.

Well, he showed up late to the date.

So I immediately thought, he's probably not a punctual person.

But after we had lunch, we ended up, he invited me to continue the date.

So we went and had bloody Marys, which I thought was a nice addition to the day.

But yeah, initially, I liked you.

I liked you from when we were talking online and I liked you- - Aww, it makes my heart go pitter-patter.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Well, I hope so.

It's like 14 years later we're together, two kids, and a house, and cars- - Yeah, all that.

- Now we're on.

- And we have the same cell phone bill.

- We have, yes.

(Ashlee laughing) - We were married for, we were together for about eight, nine, 10 years.

We had two children and we finally got on the same cell phone plan.

We're just like- - I'm sure people can relate to that.

- So, okay.

Well, what we're gonna start off with, we got our pan smoking hot over here, but it's getting nice and hot.

We want to keep that going nice and hot.

Might even turn it down just a little bit.

So for our steak here, I have selected a Denver steak.

I think this one slices up nicely 'cause that's how we're gonna serve it sliced.

And what we're gonna do to start this off is we are going to coat this in peppercorns.

- Okay.

- So, you wanna use cracked peppercorns, not just ground pepper, pulverized pepper.

And you're probably thinking to yourself, "Tim, where do I find black peppercorns?

"Crashed black peppercorns."

Well, you can do one of two things.

Sometimes your pepper grinder may have different settings for coarse and fine.

- Yeah.

- Set it as course as it can go and start grinding.

We're gonna need about two tablespoons of peppercorns.

So that's a lot of grinding.

If you wanna work on your forearms, that's pretty good.

But a simple trick is get some peppercorns, put them in a plastic bag, a Ziploc bag, place them on your hard surface countertop, a little louder- - [Ashlee] We're gonna crack 'em ourselves?

- [Tim] We're gonna crack 'em ourselves.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Once again, you don't wanna pulverize and pound 'em, you just wanna make sure they're cracked.

You're like, "Tim, I don't have a meat mallet."

Maybe you have a rolling pin, you don't have a rolling pin, you probably have a heavy pan.

Just do that.

Just be sure that you're not doing it on something that can break.

If you need to, it's in a plastic bag.

Take it out to the garage, do it on the floor, on the concrete floor like that.

So you're gonna, (mallet smashing) you're gonna do that.

(mallet smashing) Let's see if they're getting cracked.

- [Ashlee] Oh yeah, okay.

- So you don't want it powdered like in a pepper shaker.

But to save on the noise, we're just gonna, I've already done this, but yeah, you just keep continuing on and move across the bag.

(bright upbeat music) Now the star of the show wasn't the steak, wasn't the fries, it wasn't me or even my beautiful wife.

The star of the show was the peppercorns.

You cannot make steak au poivre without some good quality peppercorns to crack for the crust on there.

Steak au poivre is French for peppered steak or steak with pepper.

The thing is, there's not just the regular black peppercorns that we're all accustomed to.

We've got black, we've got green, white, and pink peppercorns.

Now one of these is not even actually a peppercorn, but we'll get into that in just a few minutes here.

First off, the black peppercorn, that's what we're all accustomed to.

It's been in every pepper shaker on the table of every dinner table and restaurant you've ever been to.

Usually finely ground, coarsely ground.

It's the cornerstone of any spice seasoning, racking in just about any kitchen in America.

The black peppercorn typically has a strong pungent yet versatile flavor profile that makes it great for a variety of dishes.

The black peppercorn actually comes from the unripe green peppercorns that are taken off and harvested.

They are then quickly cooked in some boiling water and then set out to dry.

Typically and traditionally it was probably dried in the sun, but these days it's probably used as more of a machine drying, which gives that outer skin that kind of wrinkled look, like almost like a little tiny round raisin.

Next is the green peppercorn.

Now traditionally, this is what you would use for the steak au poivre.

The green peppercorn is typically not cooked and dried like the black peppercorns are.

They are picked when they are still very green and ripe, which allows it to retain that vibrant green color.

Gives it a really pungent flavor.

They're not cooked and dried.

They're typically brined in a brine or a vinegar, and sometimes freeze dried.

These green peppercorns, they have just almost like a little more kind of like, I don't want to call it fruity, but a little more, tiny, bit more fragrancey than the kind of pungent black pepper fragrance.

Next we've got what we call white pepper.

Now white pepper peppercorns come from the fully mature berry.

The ripe red berry is soaked in water for about a week.

It allows the skin to soften and makes it really easy to come off.

So that's what you see on the green and the black peppercorns, the wrinkly, that's the skin being left on.

So what you're left with is the pepper seed, basically.

And what we do with that, it grinds down, it's very white, it's very light.

It's typically used in your mashed potatoes, your white soups, your cream sauces.

It has a more appealing look than these black specks in your white sauce or your white soup.

It has a more earthy, sometimes musty flavor.

Last but not least, we've got the pink peppercorn.

And the funny thing is, this really isn't even a peppercorn.

It's actually the berry of the Peruvian pepper tree.

It's very light, it's very airy.

Like you can, (peppercorn crunching) I don't know if you can hear that, you can crush it in your fingers.

So these are mildly sweet with a really fruity fragrant flavor.

And it's kind of funny because these have a little more of a pepper fragrance than the other actual real peppercorns here.

It's used as a garnish to add a little extra flavor.

And a lot of times you'll see it, and when you go buy a pepper medley that has some ground peppers in it, you'll see a couple of these in there because it does add the pepper flavor, but it also adds a little more fragrant floral flavor to it and kind of dresses up the jar, in my opinion.

It has a lot less heat than a true peppercorn, but still retains that pepper flavor.

Due to their color and delicate flavor, it's oftentimes used as a garnish for salads, soups, seafood.

Now, one of the things about the peppercorn is, you can't really use it alone in a traditional pepper grinder, because it's so soft and light.

It'll also allow some of the natural oils in there to kind of gum up the pepper grinder if you use it by itself.

That's why also you always see it in kind of a pepper medley.

So the more coarse, the more dense, the harder peppercorns will help push it through.

If you have some and you want to crush it to get it, the best thing I recommend is a mortar and pestle.

You just take the mortar and pestle, (peppercorns grinding) go ahead and grind it up.

It starts to grind out.

And believe it or not, these are also used in some desserts.

If you're familiar with that kind of little bit of pepper can really balance out some really sweet creamy desserts to help it out.

Although not widely used in my kitchen, the pink peppercorns, I think I'm gonna find more ways to incorporate those.

And I'm really intrigued by the dessert aspect.

So keep an eye out.

I might try something and top it off with some pink peppercorns for dessert.

(bright upbeat music) Now, this recipe traditionally would have green peppercorns.

- Okay.

- But I am not gonna lie, I didn't have any green peppercorns on hand.

So we're gonna use kind of like a peppercorn medley with some black peppercorns and I think everything will be just fine.

- So do you find the black peppercorns in the spice aisle at the grocery store?

- Yeah, spice aisle, right by the salt, and the rubs, and everything else.

Okay.

- Got it, okay.

- I'm gonna use just a little bit of olive oil, just a touch, just to get that.

So they got something to stick to.

We'll put it on either side.

- So the only spice that we're putting on here is the peppercorns?

- It's the black peppercorn.

- And then we're gonna rely on the sauce- - We'll finish it with some salt- - To have a lot of the flavor?

- The sauce is gonna just blow you away.

- Okay.

- Okay?

So we're just gonna go ahead and make sure we coat this.

I know what you're thinking, you're like, "Man, that's a lot of pepper," but that is the point.

To make it coated, to coat it really good with the pepper.

- So when we cook it, is it gonna make almost like a crust, like a crispy crust?

- It is gonna make a crispy crust.

- Okay.

- Which is why we're gonna cut, we're gonna slice it very thin.

So you're gonna get like just a little bit of that.

- Okay.

So what's your favorite cut of meat?

- My favorite cut of meat, for this I like a Denver steak.

You could use a New York strip, if you wanted to get really fancy and keep it French, you could do the filet mignon.

- Okay, which happens to be my favorite.

- Except that you order it like medium well all the time.

So I don't know why you bother, but you know.

- Oh that's another, that's another funny story.

So one of our first dates we went to a steakhouse and when I ordered my steak, I had gotten a filet and I called the waiter down, and I said, "Can you butterfly it and make it well?"

And Tim immediately looked at me and was like, "What?

"Wait, you're getting beef jerky "at this really nice steak restaurant?"

I was like, "Yeah."

So, but I've gotten a little bit better.

- You've ventured out.

- [Ashlee] I think over time- - You've been going more on the medium side.

I can't get you over the medium rare- - Yeah.

- Pittsburgh side just yet.

- No, no, no.

- But we've got medium rare.

- No.

- Okay, now that we've got this nice and peppered, we are going to go and we're gonna add a little butter.

There's gonna be a lot of sizzle and probably a lot of smoke.

- Okay.

(butter sizzling) - A little pat of butter with the olive oil that we've got in there.

You wanna make sure this is nice and hot.

You always pat your steak dry before you add any seasonings or anything to it.

So I think this is gonna be really good, really tasty.

And just like I said, something, something a little different.

A little peppercorn crusted steak, if you will.

So, (oil sizzling) all right- - Did you just put one?

- I just put a little bit of butter in there.

I wanted the butter to brown like that.

So that's gonna also help us with the crisp, and here we go.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

(steak sizzling) Now what we should take is probably about three, two and a half, three minutes per side.

- Okay.

- And we're just gonna let it sit there like that.

You don't wanna move it just yet.

I know it's gonna be enticing to touch it, poke at it, and do that.

- So I think that we really started, well, he started experimenting with food when we had kids and we were home, and life was a little bit busier than normal.

- Okay.

And when the world shut down- - COVID.

- You can't go out to your favorite restaurant as much as you used to.

So, you know.

- And we had to do three meals a day.

We were responsible for cooking breakfast, we were cooking lunch, we were cooking dinner, we were spending a lot of time together.

And I felt like it was really hard to also add variety to what we were cooking for the kids.

But we did a really good job- - Smell that pepper.

Twisting.

(steak sizzling) - Ooh yeah, that smells really good.

- The aromatics and peppers coming out really well for that.

We are gonna- - So we just, how do we know when it's time to flip?

- I'm gonna take a quick peek, and I think that is good.

I'm gonna go ahead and flip it over.

You can see we got a nice crust working on there.

- [Ashlee] Yep.

- I think that's perfect.

Now one of the important things that we're gonna do is we're gonna let the steak rest while we make our pan sauce.

- Okay.

- Pan sauces are really fun because we're gonna use a lot of the bits that have kind of black bits that have cooked onto the pan and everything.

We're gonna scrape those up and that's gonna be the basis for a lot of the flavor.

And just trying to use some, we've got some Dijon mustard.

- Okay.

- Mustaaard!

And some onions, some shallots.

These all fancy stuff, you know?

It's like, I feel like, and then some heavy cream and some some cognac.

'Cause when it comes to cooking, you don't have to go out and get a whole bottle, go by the liquor store, package store, get you a little mini bottle.

Now it is not required, but it will definitely add some of the flavor to it for sure.

Alright, we've got a nice crust on all sides.

So what I'm gonna go do, I'm gonna go ahead and pull this, we'll just put it on this plate right here and we're gonna let this rest, and we're gonna set it over here.

Now we've got a lot of peppercorn in there, so I am gonna get just a little bit of that out.

- Okay.

(skillet clanking) - You see we've got the little crusty bits and everything in there?

We're gonna add a little bit of olive oil.

- Okay.

- We are gonna add some butter.

We're gonna let that melt down.

It's gonna release all of that from it and it's gonna just add flavor.

Oh yeah, it's very hot.

(butter sizzling) I'm gonna maybe go ahead and add a little more butter.

Bring up the temperature just a little bit.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- See, now that the peppercorns are gone, the smoke is gone.

This recipe and all the other recipes from "Dapper Dad's Dinner Table" can be found on pbscharlotte.org.

Please check it out.

Give us some feedback, try it at home.

Let me know how it works.

I'd love to hear from you.

Now we're gonna add some shallots.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

(bright upbeat music) (oil sizzling) Is there an order in which we should put the ingredients in?

- [Tim] Yes.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- And that's the order I'm putting them in.

- Okay, and I'm assuming that's on the recipe.

- But of course that'll be on the recipe.

- Okay.

- So we're gonna go ahead, see it's picking up all those little bits from the bottom?

- [Ashlee] I agree.

- [Tim] That's just gonna add more flavor.

Oh, I'm making a mess.

- [Ashlee] It's very, very hot.

(bright upbeat music continues) - [Tim] Smell that.

- Yeah, smells really, really good.

Ooh yeah.

- Mhm.

(bright upbeat music continues) Okay, as they start to turn translucent like that, yep.

To that, we're gonna go ahead and add some of the beef broth.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

(bright upbeat music continues) - We're gonna add a little bit of Dijon mustard.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- If you don't have Dijon mustard, you can use your favorite mustard, or a spicy brown mustard.

But Dijon mustard would definitely work the best for this.

- Ooh, that even adds more to this smell.

- Oh yeah.

- [Ashlee] This is awesome.

I can't believe the kids are gone for the whole night.

- [Tim] Yeah.

- [Ashlee] This is amazing.

- Well, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy making it with you for you.

- [Ashlee] Right.

- Do you wanna check on our fries over there real quick?

- Sure.

I think they're doing okay.

Can I pull them out and give them a shake?

- Yeah, if you want to go ahead.

- All right.

(pan clanking) - Okay.

Fries look good.

- We're gonna add a little bit of the brandy, cooking brandy, and as that is boiling off, we'll see if we can get a little flambe action from that.

(lighter clicking) (fire blazing) There we go.

(fire blazing) - [Ashlee] I feel like this is a process you would definitely see at a restaurant.

- Well, probably not.

It's probably happening behind the scenes in the kitchen.

- Maybe.

- Or like one of those really cool restaurants where they're cooking everything in front of you.

Okay, as that's going, now what we're gonna do is we are gonna add some heavy cream.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- I'm gonna add this in a little bit at a time, and we're gonna stir it, and we're gonna turn the heat up a little bit 'cause we want this to thicken up.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- See the shallots in there and everything?

- So more of like a gravy kind of texture- - Kind of- - A little thick.

- Yeah, we're looking for a gravy texture.

I'll show you a cool trick to check that out.

We're gonna go ahead a little more here.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- We don't wanna burn it, we don't wanna break it.

Maybe add a little bit more butter, 'cause butter is good with everything.

- Okay.

- And we're just gonna let that simmer for a little bit there.

- So how do we know it's not gonna stick to the pan?

Is it the butter?

- Mm, no, that's not gonna stick to the pan.

If it sticks to the pan, it's because it was on too high.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- While it's going, why don't you have a little taste?

- Oh, okay.

- It's gonna be hot.

Let me know what you think.

How is that gonna taste- - Ooh, that's really good.

- Over a steak?

- Really, really good.

- Awesome.

- I can definitely taste the peppercorn that was in there, but then also the shallots.

- Well, I did add alcohol to it.

Is there an alcoholy taste?

- You know, it really doesn't taste like brandy.

- Well, that's kind of good because we don't want it to be a brandy sauce.

We just want it to kind of accentuate the flavors that are already there with the onions, and the cream, and everything.

So when you're cooking with alcohol, you don't really want it to be super alcoholy flavored.

You want, you know, that's why we burned off some of the actual alcohol- - Right.

- And we want the actual flavor from the, you know, the fruit distillation of the brandy.

- Yeah.

More of just a hint to- - Yep.

- Just maybe enhance the other flavors?

- Yeah, just enhance the other flavors.

Just like a hint of it.

- Okay.

- Now, if we didn't use it, and you don't have to use it, if you don't keep alcohol in the house and it's not your thing, that's great.

You don't have to use it for this recipe.

It'll taste slightly different, but it's not gonna taste bad, I tell you that much.

Another little trick we can do here is to see if our sauce is done.

See, it's bubbling, it's getting thicker.

And we just gotta keep an eye on it.

We don't want it to get too thick.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- [Tim] And we don't want it to break, but like a cool trick is- - [Ashlee] What do you mean, break?

- When it breaks, the fats, and the dairy, and everything will break out and it'll get kind of clumpy- - Clumpy.

- And like gross and oily.

The butter and the oils will separate out and it'll look, it might still taste good, but it's not gonna look the best.

- Okay.

- A cool little trick that you can do, is you can dip your spoon in there and then hold the back of your spoon.

And if it sticks to the back of the spoon- - Oh yeah.

- I'd like it to be a little bit thicker- - Okay.

- Than that.

So we're gonna let it go.

And we're just gonna stir it around just a little bit more.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- Maybe add just a touch more butter, 'cause that'll help thicken it up.

I'm gonna ask you questions.

You've been asking me questions like it's, you know, like I'm on your show.

- Okay.

- But out of all the things that I've cooked for you, what is your favorite?

- I think I'm gonna say the couscous, the salmon couscous tabouli.

- Oh, couscous tabouli.

- Which is one of my absolute favorites.

Number one, because I love salmon, and number two, it was one of the very first meals, I think that you might have cooked for me.

- So when we were- - In like a formal thing.

- Yeah, when we were dating, I was trying, she was, you know, she's busy working out, eating healthy, and I was pretty much still eating meat, and potatoes, and fast food.

I was a single guy and that's how I lived.

And I was in the checkout and I saw a magazine, and it had this wonderful looking salad on the top of it and it was a couscous tabouli, and I'd never had that before.

So I literally picked up the magazine, put it in my cart, backed out of line, and went and bought all the ingredients for that.

And I made it for her, and I topped it off with some grilled salmon.

- It was very good.

- Okay, I'm gonna turn this down because I think it is getting just to the right point.

Let's try with the spoon again.

See?

Now it's sticking in the back of the spoon a little thicker.

I think it's perfect.

We are gonna go ahead and turn the power off.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

- I think we're just gonna get it out of the way.

- Okay.

- All right.

Now, we're gonna go back to our steak.

And how are your fries looking over there, sous chef?

- They are good.

They should be good to go.

- You wanna go ahead and put 'em out?

Set 'em over on the, oh yeah, perfect.

Nice and crispy, oh yeah.

Now that we've let our steak rest, we're gonna go ahead and give it a, slice it across the grain.

- [Ashlee] Okay.

Oh my gosh, that looks so good.

- [Tim] That looks perfect.

It's a little more, you know, it's a little on the more medium rare side.

- [Ashlee] That's okay.

- But I think you're gonna like it.

This is a very tender cut of steak so- - It looks very tender.

- It's just, the knife's going right through it.

And then I think the pepper's gonna just make it taste wonderful.

So a couple more slices there.

Now I'm gonna grab your plate.

I'm gonna set you up, young lady.

- Okay.

(plates clanking) - Crispy french fries.

- So we're putting the fries as the base?

- We're putting the fries down as the base.

- Okay.

- Into the fries, we will add a little bit of salt.

- Salt, okay.

- Love a little salt bake.

- I'm gonna put it on top, just like that.

- Oh, that looks really good.

- And spatula.

Oh yeah, pan sauce is good.

- Oh, this is gonna be really good.

I'm so glad we decided to stay home.

- Me too.

- Awesome.

I'm gonna take one of those- - [Tim] Yeah, take a little- - [Ashlee] Side ends.

(plate clanking) Want the plate to sneak around.

- Yep, look around.

Yeah, get your little fry.

Get your little, yeah.

Oh, that's, get some sauce on there.

- Okay.

- Don't be scared.

- Okay, I'm looking for a french fry.

- There you go.

It's hot.

(plate clanking) What is the first flavor that pops out at you?

- The peppercorn crust.

- And is it like super peppery, super duper peppery, or just like, man, just the right amount?

- I think it would be more overwhelming if there wasn't the sauce, but the sauce, I think, helps balance it.

Balance it out, that's really good.

- That's really tasty and it's simple, but you know, a little break from the norm.

- [Ashlee] Yeah.

- I dare call it a little fancy.

Steak frites, a little steak au poivre.

- This is awesome.

Delicious.

- Like I said, we have the house to ourselves tonight, the kids are gone.

So this is where we bid you a farewell.

Recipe online, pbscharlotte.org.

Thank you for joining us.

You're always welcome at my dinner table.

Everybody have a wonderful night.

- Goodnight.

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