Snake Au Poivre
OK - before you start getting all 'animal rights' over this...or for the less concerned...."I wonder if Morries has good snake in these days?" It's a joke!
The recipe uses Beef not Rattler (or Anaconda if you have a large family), but we always called it Snake Au Poivre. It's quick, easy, tasty
and a real cheat
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Ingredients
1lb Frying Steak - good quality
1 Large Onion
1 Clove of Garlic - optional
¼ lb Mushrooms
1 Tub Elmlea - Double/Single/Light - doesn't matter which
Sweet/Medium Sweet Sherry - can be any, doesn't need to be the best
½ Tbspn of Oil for frying
Black Peppercorns - either in a Mill or a Pestle & Mortar
How to Make
Trim the steak, cutting out any sinew and removing any fat. Once lean, cut across the grain into thinnish strips and leave on a plate ready. Peel the onion and halve, top to bottom, then slice the onion downwards. Peel the clove of garlic and slice thinly. Cut the mushrooms into thick slices or quarters, whichever you prefer. If your peppercorns are in a Pestle & Mortar - grind them up, not too big, not too small.
Put the oil into a skillet or frying pan and put over heat - once the oil is getting hot, add in the frying steak. Stir it round occasionally in order to get the strips browned, meanwhile add the garlic, onion and keep stirring it round. Add the mushrooms in and stir. Grind in loads, as much Black Pepper as you like and salt to taste.
The steak will release its juices and as you keep cooking they will begin to catch and dry in the pan - when that happens (and before anything burns) keeping the heat on high - pour in sherry. The liquid should boil up some and clean the stuff off the bottom of the pan, stir to make sure all the flavours have been taken off the pan bottom.
Keep the heat on until the sherry has all but evaporated off - so the steak has been fried and now it has been broiled in the sherry/steak juices. Just before the pan gets dry again add in another good glug of sherry - probably about half an inch's worth in the pan. Leave this bubbling up while you get the Elmlea open - stir everything in the pan again incorporating everything and making sure the meat and 'shrooms have been well coated.
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Take the pan off the heat and pour in half the pot of Elmlea
stirring it in, mix well & serve immediately. Add more if you like, taste the sauce and see what you think. This goes well with
Rice & you can throw in some frozen peas with the rice, whilst cooking,
if you want.
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