Q. I would love to make a very lean steak at home with a mushroom sauce. I had something similar at a restaurant. I'm trying to switch to leaner cuts of beef and am looking for new recipes to try.

A. Have I got a recipe for you! This savory main entrée was inspired by a recipe I saw on epicurious .com that called for 4 tablespoons of butter plus twice as much blue cheese.

Instead of using butter to sauté shallots and garlic, I used 2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil to sauté some sliced mushrooms and garlic.

The rest of the butter (called for in the original recipe) was used in the making of the red wine sauce. For this light version, an easier wine sauce is made without any butter and combined with the mushroom garlic mixture to make a mushroom wine sauce. Half as much blue cheese is in the topping, and I used a reduced-fat blue cheese. By making these changes, you trim more than 200 calories, 22 total grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat and 44 milligrams of cholesterol per serving!

Filet mignon can be substituted for the top sirloin — it will just need to cook longer in the skillet if thicker than 3/4-inch.

Original recipe contains 514 calories, 36 grams fat, 17 grams saturated fat, and 128 mg cholesterol per serving.

TOP SIRLOIN STEAKS WITH MUSHROOM WINE SAUCE

• 4 top sirloin filet steaks (about 5 ounces each)

• 1/2 cup light balsamic vinaigrette

• 2 teaspoons olive oil

• 2 cups sliced mushrooms, packed

• 2 teaspoons minced or chopped garlic

• 3 tablespoons dry red wine

• 6 tablespoons low sodium double strength beef broth

• 6 tablespoons coarsely crumbled reduced fat blue cheese

• 1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or parsley flakes

Place the filet steaks in a sealable plastic bag along with the balsamic vinaigrette.

Marinate steaks in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours.

Begin to heat olive oil in a nonstick medium-size frying pan over medium high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté about 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the garlic and saute an additional minute. Set mushroom mixture aside.

Begin heating a large nonstick skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. Coat the inside of the skillet with canola cooking spray. Add the steaks, drained of the marinade, to the hot skillet and cook to the desired doneness (about 4 minutes per side for "medium" if steaks are 3/4-inch thick. Remove steaks to rimmed baking sheet lined with foil.

Add the red wine and beef broth immediately to the hot skillet where the steaks were and bring mixture to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. Turn off heat after about a minute and stir in the mushroom mixture. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine blue cheese, panko crumbs and thyme or parsley. Cover the tops of the steaks evenly with the blue cheese mixture. Preheat the oven broiler. Broil steaks briefly just until cheese browns (about 1 minute). Transfer steaks to dinner plates. Spoon some of the mushroom mixture, including a drizzle or two of the wine sauce, over each steak.

Makes 4 servings.

• Per serving: 300 calories, 35 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 6.6 g mono-unsaturated fat, .8 g polyunsaturated fat, 84 mg cholesterol, .5 g fiber, 251 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 42 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .1 gram, omega-6 fatty acids = .7 gram. Weight Watchers points= 7


Elaine Magee is a registered dietitian and author. Learn more at www.recipedoctor.com.