RECIPE: Mesquite Steak over Pasta

Who remembers the "Decluttering the Pantry" posts from the beginning of this year? If you missed it, don't worry, you didn't miss much, unless you like to see what people have in their pantries. You know some people are like that, they enjoy looking at other people's stuff. I know this for a fact because I happen to be one of those people. I love seeing other people's organizational skills and ideas. I also have a very good friend of mine who loves to see other people's stuff! I won't mention any names, but I can remember on numerous occasions when I have been with this person, she has opened closet doors in other people's house just to see what was in there! Hee, hee. Is that wrong? Please forgive her and me for being snoopy. Inquiring minds just want to know!

Anyway, the only reason I brought this whole thing up was because of something that I have had in my pantry since last summer, as in July of 2009! Here is the post to prove it.

Decluttering the Pantry, Day Three

When you look at it scroll down to the part where you see this:



There's that pasta that I bought at a Farmer's Market in Ft. Collins over a year ago! I explained in my post that these were impulse buys that I thought sounded delicious at the time but haven't figured out what to do with yet.

Well guess what? You'll be so proud of me! I finally used the Black Bean Veracruz Fettuccine! Can you believe it? Who says fresh pasta doesn't last forever! LOL I have also cooked the Four Peppercorn Linguine, used that about a month ago with a chicken dish. It was yummy, but that's not what I'm writing about. I still have to use the Sweet Potato Orzo yet, but that will be some day later. BTW Andrea, if you are reading this lil' Miss Fork Fingers Chopsticks, do you have any wise words of wisdom about Orzo??? And Andrea, have you ever tried any of Pappardelle's Pasta? It is simply divine!

Anyway...

Here's the recipe I made up.

Open A Bar 2 Ranch Mesquite Steak over Pasta

Open A Bar 2 Ranch Mesquite Steak over Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. "Open A Bar 2 Ranch" Mesquite Marinated Round Steak (I'll talk about substitutions for the steak at the end of the recipe since I know not all of you are able to purchase some of our most delightful all-natural beef.)
• medium size onion, sliced and quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• olive oil
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tablespoons butter
  
• 16 oz. Pappardelle's Black Bean Veracruz Fettuccine (although plain fettuccine will do.)
• 2 teaspoons (or more if you like) cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• Ground Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper

Directions

1. Pour two tablespoons or so of olive oil into a large dutch oven over medium/high heat.
2. When the oil is hot, brown the steak on both sides until desired doneness. I recommend medium rare. Remove steak to a cutting board and allow to rest.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the dutch oven and saute the onions and garlic in the butter until the onions begin to soften slightly.
4. Add the white wine to the pan with the onions and deglaze the brown bits left from the steak.
5. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes and let the wine reduce a bit, say 10 minutes or so.
6. Start the pasta in a separate pot while the wine is reducing.
7. After the wine has reduced add the cream, cumin, paprika, ground pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. Let this cook until thoroughly heated and then simmer to thicken a bit while the pasta is cooking.
8. If you want a thicker sauce, combine 1 teaspoon corn starch with 2 tablespoons of white wine in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Remove the pan from the heat before adding this thickener, stir it in, then put it back on the heat.
   
9. Cut the steak into thin strips.
10. Drain the pasta.
11. To serve, place the pasta on the plate, top the pasta with several strips of steak and pour the sauce over it all.

Oh la, la! This is so good!! The picture does not do this dish justice.

Okay, now for those of you who don't have access to our delicious all-natural beef... First of all, let me say how terribly sorry I am that you aren't able to get it. For those of you who live locally and would like to try this recipe, we will have the marinated mesquite round steak for sale at the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Markets while supplies last. Let me know if you need the dates and location for the Winter Markets.

But back to those of you who aren't able to get your hands on some of the marinated mesquite round steak... You could use almost any steak for this, say sirloin, ribeye, new york strip, tenderloin... You can pan-fry the steak as I did in the recipe or you can grill it. Also if I were making this with something other than our marinated mesquite steak, I think I would try to find some mesquite flavored rub or marinade and use that on the steak before I cooked it.

ENJOY!