Madeira Sauce

  

    
Many recipes are something you might not make, but some may include a component such as a sauce which you can pair with something else.  For example, the photo above portrays Tournedos Rossini, Beef Filets with Foie Gras and Truffles.  Appearing in the magazine Saveur in a piece about Cafe Anglais in Paris, the odds that I would make this at home are low.  However, the sauce looked luscious and the recipe for it was simple, so I clipped it and saved it for a later day.  That evening came last night when I felt like a steak and wanted an easy sauce to pair with it and the polenta and broccolini I planned.  I keep a bottle of madeira in the cabinet along with port, cooking sherry and marsala.  I recommend you do the same since they will keep for a long time. Similarly, I keep frozen or concentrated demi-glace in addition to chicken, beef, vegetable and seafood stocks.  So, when the time came, a sauce from a fine restaurant in Paris is only 10 minutes away.  Serves 2.
    
Ingredients:
1/4 cup madeira
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup demi-glace
4 tbsp butter
    
Directions:
After you've cooked your cut of meat and removed it to a plate to rest, poor out any cooking fat and deglaze the pan with the madeira, scraping up and mixing in any bits.  Over medium-high heat, reduce the madeira slightly, about 2 minutes.  Add the stock and demi-glace, increase heat to high, and cook down approx. 8 minutes until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup.  Whisk in the butter if desired, a piece at a time, until the butter is melted.  Serve.