Steaks with Bleu Cheese-Walnut Crust and FAY Cabernet Sauvignon Reduction

6 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1½ tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup milk
1 cup Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars FAY Cabernet Sauvignon
pinch nutmeg
6 ounces crumbled bleu cheese
2 cups veal or beef stock
½ cup heavy whipping cream
4 prime strip steaks
3 egg yolks
salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces walnuts, finely chopped
2 tablespoons very finely chopped parsley

To make the bleu cheese crust, first make a béchamel: Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and stir in the flour. Cook, stirring, until slightly colored. Add the milk and continue to stir until nicely thickened. Cook 5 minutes more, still stirring. Add the nutmeg and season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to cool. Combine the cooled béchamel, the cheese, cream, egg yolks, and chopped walnuts in a mixing bowl. Mix together with two forks to form a paste. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

Make the FAY reduction: In a medium sauté pan, sauté the shallots in the oil until translucent. Add the wine and cook until it has been reduced 75 percent. Add the stock and reduce again 75 percent. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper and grill to the desired degree of doneness. Place the steaks on broiler-proof plates. Cover half of each steak with the bleu cheese crust and place under a hot broiler just until the crust begins to melt. Cover the other half with the wine reduction sauce. Sprinkle the sauced side with a little finely chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Recipe by Ian Fulton, Chef
Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House Las Vegas
3925 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702.796.0063
www.delfriscos.com/lasvegas

Born in Scotland, Ian Fulton trained in kitchens in France, Switzerland, and Germany before coming to the United States. Most recently he was chef-owner of the Aviemore Arms in Bend, Oregon, before making the move to Las Vegas. Now he's executive chef at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House, a restaurant that pairs classic steak-house fare—onion rings, golden-broiled lobster tails, and of course prime corn-fed steaks—with a world-class wine list. Wine lovers particularly enjoy private parties in the restaurant's beautiful wine cellar, whose custom-designed glass-enclosed racks display an inventory of over 8,000 bottles.

To pair with the 2000 CASK 23, Chef Fulton enhanced prime steak with a rich crust of walnuts and bleu cheese on one side and a shallot-infused wine reduction on the other. He suggests serving the steaks with oven-roasted Yukon potatoes seasoned with olive oil and fresh rosemary, plus tender baby vegetables lightly cooked in butter.

Chef Fulton's two-topping steak reflects the "fire and water" characteristics of S.L.V. and FAY, the two estate vineyards that go into CASK 23. The wine reduction—made with FAY Cabernet—is designed to enhance the rich fruit flavors contributed by FAY's more alluvial soils, while the cheese-and-nut crust complements the structure and spicy intensity attributed to S.L.V.'s predominantly volcanic soils. On the plate and in the glass, it's a lovely combination.