London Broil Steak with Châteauneuf-du-Pape #winophiles

This easy London Broil Steak recipe is quickly roasted just right and topped with savory mushrooms for a delicious steak dinner. We paired our steak with a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine from M. Chapoutier. Full disclosure: The wine was provided as a complimentary sample by the winery.

This month the French Winophiles blogging group is exploring wine from the Rhone. A number of us had the opportunity to enjoy three samples from M. Chapoutier, one of the top producers of Rhone wine.

Picking food to serve with Châteauneuf-du-Pape

I decided to save the Châteauneuf-du-Pape for last, and to create a recipe to go with it to share today for our Winophiles event. So, what food goes best with Châteauneuf-du-Pape?

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a big, bold red wine, so you don’t want to mess around with lighter foods like chicken or seafood, generally speaking. (there’s an exception to most every wine pairing rule though!)

Pork tenderloin crossed my mind, but then I thought that might get overwhelmed by the wine. Then I saw top loin was on sale at Whole Foods, marketed as London broil. I decided to make London broil steak with mushroom sauce to go with our Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Stay tuned for details on the pairing, which follow a few notes about our London broil steak recipe.

Before I leave the topic of what food to serve with Châteauneuf-du-Pape, many articles I checked out in planning for this pairing noted the Syrah in Châteauneuf-du-Pape makes it work with spicier foods. Lamb tagine is one idea that caught my eye, which I am definitely going to have to try!

Beef pairings for Châteauneuf-du-Pape such as this Chanterelle Beef Stew recipe I made previously, have worked well. So I had a good feeling about our London broil steak!

Roasting London Broil Steak in the Oven

First, what is London broil steak, anyway? It refers to a preparation as opposed to a cut of steak. Top loin steak is typically the cut used for London broil, and that’s the way I rolled. At Whole Foods they list this cut as London broil / top loin, I think that is fairly typical.

Why is it called London broil? I haven’t really figured that out, but don’t go looking for London broil in London. It’s a name that got cooked up here in America at some point.

What you do need to know about London broil / top loin is that it is a lean, relatively inexpensive cut of meat. While a marinade is a typical strategy for producing tender meat from this cut, my reading suggested the acidity from many marinades can be offputting with this cut.

So I decided I would make rub for our London broil steak, with a generous amount of salt to tenderize the meat. After letting the steak sit in the rub at room temperature for a half an hour, it gets quickly pan seared on the stove top prior to roasting in the oven.

Mind you, this is a quick roast in the oven! You don’t want to overcook lean London broil steak or it will be dry and tough. Check at 12 minutes or even a bit sooner for medium rare.

Our London broil steak came out just right, medium rare, and very tender. Our 12 year old who does not go for mushrooms said it was great without the sauce, but we grownups thought the sauce made a great addition to the meal…speaking of great addition to the meal, how about that wine?!?

London Broil Steak Paired with Châteauneuf-du-Pape

So as noted, we had a bottle of 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Bernardine” Rouge ($60, 14.5% ABV) to open to pair with our London Broil Steak. I get scent of forest floor on the nose with a touch of menthol. I noted the thickness of the wine when first tasting it, with big blackberry fruit. Definitely a young wine with some potential to age.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape opened nicely after some brief decanting while finishing making our London broil steak. As suspected, this big, fruit forward red wine was a very good pairing for the steak. Some of the more subtle aspects of the wine started to show as we ate, notes of roasted coffee, spice and licorice along with the fruit. Those more complex taste elements worked nicely with the mushroom. I definitely give this pairing a solid A!

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an appellation that allows up to 13 grape varieties in the red wine blends, with several of those being white wine grapes. I’ve had some CDP that use all the allowable grapes, and that is interesting. But M. Chapoutier goes in a different direction, using just one to three of the allowable grapes in La Bernardine in order to allow for true expression of the terroir to come through in the wine. The 2015 La Bernardine is comprised of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah.

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French #Winophiles Explore Rhône Valley Wines

Check out these other posts from The French #Winophiles on the wines of the Rhône Valley and Michel Chapoutier, and join us Saturday morning, March 17 at 11 a.m. ET on Twitter. Just use #Winophiles – it’s really fun!

• • • Gwendolyn Alley at Wine Predator tells us about “Duck à l’Orange with M. Chapoutier’s Biodynamic, Organic Rhone Wines”
    • Jill Barth from L’Occasion writes about “Braille on the Label and Other Pioneering Moments of Chapoutier”
    • J.R. Boynton from Great Big Reds writes about “The Dark Side of Syrah, with Domaine Fondreche Persia 2012 (Ventoux)”
    • Jeff Burrows from Food Wine Click shares “Northern Rhone Wines and My Steak Tartare Disaster”
    • David Crowley at Cooking Chat at tells us about “London Broil Steak with Châteauneuf-du-Pape”
    • Rob Frisch at Odd Bacchus writes about “Return to the Rhône”
    • Susannah Gold at Avvinare writes about “Rhône Gems from Chapoutier in Chateauneuf, du Pape, Crozes-Hermitage, and Luberon”
    • Nicole Ruiz Hudson at Somm’s Table tells her story of “Cooking to the Wine: Les Vins de Vienne Gigondas with Gratinéed Shepherd’s Pie”
    • Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares a post on “Sober Clams + a French Syrah”
    • Jane Niemeyer at Always Ravenous shares “Bison Burger Paired with Northern Rhône Syrah”
    • Martin Redmond Enofylz at shares “A Taste of The House of Chapoutier”
    • Rupal Desai Shankar at Syrah Queen writes about “Chapoutier: King of the Rhône”
    • Lauren Walsh at The Swirling Dervish writes about “France’s Rhône Valley: Mountains, Sea, Wind, and Wine”
    • Michelle Williams at Rockin Red Blog writes about “Maison M. Chapoutier: Expressing Terroir Through Biodynamics”
    • Wendy Klik at A Day in the Life on the Farm talks about when “Ireland and France Collide”
    • Liz at What’s in that Bottle invites us to “Get to know the Rhone Valley with Michel Chapoutier”
    • Payal Vora at Keep the Peas shares “The Rhone: A Taste Of Terroir With The #Winophiles”

More M. Chapoutier Pairings from Cooking Chat

As I mentioned, we had three bottles from M. Chapoutier to sample. We enjoyed the  2016 Luberon “La Ciboise” Blanc ($16, 13% ABV) with our Easy Sautéed Shrimp.

Not officially part of this event, but we have also enjoyed Bila-Haut rosé with Grilled Halibut and Mango Salsa. Maybe pin this to save for grilling season?