Off The Cuff Port, Shropshire Blue and Cream Sauce

Just thought I'd share a very simple steak sauce I made on Saturday night ... I made it up as I went but it came out very well.

I used a flat-bottomed and heavy-based cast aluminium pan that I allowed to get really hot before cooking the rump steaks (oiled the meat not the pan) to medium-rare (which was pure guess work but spot on).

The steaks were then put aside in covered dish to rest.

Turned the heat down to low.

With the pan still hot from the higher heat I'd been using for the steaks, I sloshed in a generous glug of sweet red port which bubbled fiercely and immediately reduced. Within 30 seconds I had a thick, sticky reduction.

To that I added a very generous glug of double cream and stirred the two together to create a beautiful pink sauce.

Into that I threw a generous handful of crumbled Shropshire Blue (had been thinking of Stilton when deciding what to eat a few hours earlier but remembered I had a chunk of this that I bought back from Wales with me). Stirred until the cheese melted in.

Pete was, in the meantime, making a creamy mash (with home-grown potatoes) which he served onto the plate along with the steaks. I mixed the juices that had come out of the meat during resting into the sauce before serving.

It was GORGEOUS! Far better than I expected having so completely made it up! And we've not had steaks come out so well before either!