I just love when I get to start food on fire! This dish, Beef Marsala, which I served over hot egg noodles, was FIRE itself. And if you've never started your food on fire (or to flambé, if you want to be technical) - then you don't know what you are missing. To flambé, meaning "flared" in French, is to cover the dish in alcohol and briefly start it afire. It's typically done tableside in finer restaurants for desserts like bananas foster and cherries jubilee. The alcohol burns off pretty quickly leaving just the rich flavors of the alcohol. For this dish I used dry Marsala wine.
This dish is pretty simple. I started off with a couple of filet mignon beef tenderloin steaks as I like the tenderness of it with this dish. I salted them on all sides and let them rest for about 20 minutes while I prepped the rest of the meal.
I also prepped a tablespoon of minced shallots, cut a half dozen large mushrooms, and measured out butter, cream, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Marsala wine. I also started a pot of water for the egg noodles, which only take 7 minutes to cook, so I was already half way to dinner.
Just an aside here about bringing pasta water to a boil. I've seen and heard all sorts of tales about salting the water, oiling the water, etc. The simple truth is this is not rocket science. Place your pot of cool water in a pot, place it on the burner and turn it up to high. Oil will not help your pasta "not stick" - so you can abandon this myth. Oil doesn’t mix with water so when you do this, only a tiny bit of the oil, if any at all, will even make it onto the pasta as the water boils.
You should also wait until your water is just about at a full rolling boil (air bubbles are forming on the bottom of the pot) before you add salt to it. The boiling water will agitate and dissolve the salt quickly. You'll need about 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt per pound of pasta to give it the best flavor and any salt will do, Kosher, table, sea salt, etc. People think salt makes the water boil faster but in reality it does the opposite and raises the temperature of the boiling point; that's why it is best to be added at the boiling point. Finally, if you are using stainless steel pots, placing undissolved salt into cold water has been known to pit the steel or leave white residue on the pots. There's lots of science behind this and lots of opinions, but if we just agree to salt water like I've said, we can move back to the Beef Marsala.
I used a cast iron pan for this meal because I really wanted a good sear and I love the color of the onions and mushrooms when done on the dark surface. I started the pan on medium high heat, added my fats and tossed in the steaks. Just an FYI, I have found that butter burns at high heat, and oil burns at high heat, but if I place both in the pan, I get some time there before they start to burn, so I use a bit of both, trying to get some meat juices flowing before anything scorches. I cooked the steaks for about 3 minutes per side and held the steaks on their sides with tongs to brown them all over. This may be unnecessary for you depending on the thickness of the steaks, but mine were over 2" thick and I knew the heat was not touching the center of the steaks at all, so I was shooting for a few more minutes in the pan, regardless of how I was going to achieve it.
When the internal temps of the steaks got to near 120 degree, I pulled them from the pan and tightly covered them to let them rest, let the juices settle back into the meat and rise a few more degrees in temperature. I also got the noodles rocking in the boiling water. I sautéed the shallot, then browned the mushrooms until soft, added the Marsala wine to deglaze the pan and then it was go time.
Now, before we go any further, I need to say this even though I know you know - BE CAREFUL! For a few very hot seconds, this is an inferno, for all intents and purposes. It has the potential to end very badly, so before you start cooking and even place your hands on a lighter, find a good heavy pan lid, get your kitchen extinguisher nearby and have some heavy duty fire proof gloves around in case you need to pull this pan off the stovetop. Or better yet, if you've never flambéed before, pull the pan off the heat, away from the stove top and ignite the pan somewhere safe . Odds are everything would have been fine on the stove, but this safer move is great for beginners and it makes little difference to the dish at the end. The entire fire thing lasts about 30 seconds and so don't let a half minute change your life with a house fire. OK, enough fire talk - on to the flambé!
If you leave this pan on the hot stove and pour in the Marsala, you run the risk of the pan igniting in to flames by itself without even using the lighter. The dish is hot, the alcohol is flammable - you get the picture. I've seen this happen a lot with gas stoves, but it has happened to me on my electric, so be prepared. If you add the wine and it doesn't combust, gently tip the pan and slowly bring the flame to the liquid and let it ignite. It should flame up pretty good and begin to die down in a matter of seconds. Once the alcohol burns off, it should stop flaming, but if you get to 30 seconds or so and it has not stopped, feel free to lid it and put it out.
At this point, you're in the home stretch. Butter, cream, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce is added to the pan and if you like your gravies to be a little richer and darker, feel free to add a teaspoon of Gravy Master. Let this heat through for a few minutes, stirring frequently, and then add the steak and any drippings back into the pan.
The drippings will increase the beef flavor and also add some color to the final dish.
At this point, it's probably time to drain your noodles. I've seen both chicken and beef Marsala served over noodles or alongside mashed potatoes and a veggie. They are both delicious but when I make this at home, I prefer noodles. This is a cream based sauce and I think it goes well with pasta, but feel free to serve it any way you prefer.
I plated our Beef Marsala over egg noodles and garnished with some parsley flakes. It's a beautiful dish that is more than appropriate for company, so it's definitely something you should master. The taste is rich and beefy and it's an impressive and hearty meal that is fantastic at any time of the year.
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