by zephir » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:05 am
pasta & steak
my parents love it. i love it too
this serves 4-6 people
alot of stuff is from trader joes... hopefully you have one near you. if not whole foods? if not, typically a place that sells organic/all natural only stuff would be close enough.
you need:
a big pan that can hold about 4 quarts of water
another big pan that can cook a pound of pasta at a time
and either a very good frying pan or (preferably) a cast iron pan.
and a small oven
ingredients:
1 sweet onion chopped
3/4 lb of pasta mushrooms (or white mushrooms) sliced into smaller pieces
12 large garlic pieces either mashed (chinese style) or just chopped into smaller pieces.
2 beefsteak tomatos, ripe, cut in half and sliced into 1/4" thick pieces
1 jar of tomato-basil pasta sauce, preferably trader joe's brand.
1 rib eye steak (preferably trader joe's vacuum packed with lots of strips of fat in the red meat)
1 shot jack Daniels
1 tablespoon/serving real butter (please do not use fake butter)
1 lb penne pasta (the one Trader Joes sells for 99 cents) if no Trader Joes just pick whatever's organic.
smoked sea salt (trader joes)
freshly ground pepper
fresh basil
fresh or dried oregano (if dried should be organic or it can have weird stuff in it)
fresh or dried sage (if dried should be organic or it can have weird stuff in it)
sugar
freshly shaved parmesan cheese
caramelize the onion
with the real butter
and a spoon or two of sugar.
1/3 is for pasta, 2/3s is to be served with steak.
the 1/3 caramelized onion saute with:
mushrooms
garlic
when garlic is done cooking (before pieces turn green) add
tomatos
sage and oregano (to taste)
allow tomatos to partially book then add the tomato-basil pasta sauce.
add salt/pepper to taste, sometimes sugar is the tomatos are a bit sour.
that's it for the sauce
now for pasta & steak (do at same time)
first bring alot of water to brisk boil, to cook 1 lb of pasta
this will take several minutes, you might as start on the steak while waiting.
season steak with either simple salt/pepper or a steak rub of your choice (i recommend "Nebraska steak rub" found at whole foods) once favored add about a shot of JD, this will help the meat absorb the favor plus tenderize it.
when water boils add the pasta and cook it al dente. roughly 9 minutes, although you do need to test the pasta for it's state. to get it just right stop cooking just a bit earlier- the pasta will continue to cook until you drain it- about 30-45 second early, as that's how long it takes to drain it.
while waiting for the pasta to cook use the oven's broiler setting to get the steak to rare or medium rare. if 3/4" or so this will take about 6 minutes one side, 5 minutes other side.
after draining pasta add oil to prevent it from sticking. i recommend olive oil.
now for the steak... you will sear it with the frying pan. the steak should have some oil naturally on it, get pan hot enough to where water will flash-vaporize off it. toss on the steak then add the 2/3rd onions. then the juice the steak cooked out from the oven/broiling part. wait about 2-3 minutes, flip the steak. another 2-3 minutes, then serve.
dish pasta on to a plate, ladle the sauce over it, top with cheese and fresh basil.
and that's about it!
hopefully this is clear enough, i kinda invented it.
preparation time's around 20-30 minutes and cooking about 30-40 minutes
costs about $20-$25 at the local Trader Joes.