We came up with this recipe after our trip to Cambodia last year. The quality of the Kampot pepper we found there was so good, we just knew it would be amazing in an old fashioned pepper sauce for steak. We season the steak with our Lok Lak blend, which is based on black Kampot pepper, and then use the whole red peppercorns for the sinfully rich and creamy sauce, making it visually so attractive. We prefer to push the boat out and use fillet steak for this one, but feel free to use whichever cut you choose. The flambeeing of the steak will burn off the alcohol from the brandy, but this stage can be omitted without making too much difference if you prefer to cook alcohol free. This adaptation of an old-school classic is great for a romantic meal a deux.

01.

Ingredients

1 fillet steak per person
Butter
1 tbs Spice Mountain Lok Lak blend
1 tbs Red Kampot peppercorns
Good slug of brandy
200ml double cream

02.

Method

  • Half an hour before cooking, season the steak liberally with the lok lak blend, rubbing it into the meat to get it totally infused.
  • Take a heavy frying pan, large enough to hold both steaks comfortably, and heat. Add 2tbs butter to the pan, plus a little olive oil to prevent the butter burning. When the butter is sizzling add the steaks and cook to your liking – we prefer medium rare for this dish. When the steaks are cooked remove from the pan, and leave to rest while you make the sauce.
  • Keeping the pan hot, add a splash of water to deglaze the pan, getting all the residual meat juices scraped up, before adding another big knob of butter. Now add 1tsp lok lak blend, and 1tbs red Kampot peppercorns (it is a good plan to give these a little bash in a mortar and pestle, as this releases much of their flavour).
  • Stirring all the time keep the pan very hot, and add a good splash of brandy. If you are lucky this will catch and flame by itself, but if it doesn’t tip the pan carefully towards the gas (assuming you are cooking on gas!) and let the brandy flame.
  • If you are cooking on electric, you may have to use a lighter for this stage. It should blaze bright blue before calming down, and at this point add your cream (200ml should be enough for two people).
  • Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring all the time, and once the sauce has thickened (a minute or two) return the steak to the pan, along with any meat juices that have leaked out during the resting.
  • Quickly flash the steak on both sides until it is smothered in the sauce, and remove the pan from the heat. Serve on plates which you have pre-warmed, pouring the sauce over the steak.
  • Obviously this goes splendidly with home made chips, but a jacket works well too, as do any of the classic French potato accompaniments. Wash down with a good bottle of red – a Malbec will do nicely, as will a good Australian Shiraz.