Steak Strip Pasta Recipe

This is the perfect recipe for a quick meal you need to throw together to impress anyone from the in-laws (not that I have any of those...) to surprise visitors at the last minute. 

What you will need to make this dish (serves 4):

• x 2 Sirloin Steaks
• x 1 Large Portebello Mushroom (cut into cubes)
• A bottle of burgundy dry red wine
• A tin of cherry tomatoes
• Light soy sauce
• Wostershire sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Penne
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper
• Mixed Herbs

Start by glugging some wine into a bowl. Unfortunately I'm not the type of person that measures precisely etc and everyone has different preferences anyway... but for namesake lets say you add in a quarter of a bottle of red wine (the rest can be saved to enjoy with the meal later... and perhaps one sneaky glass while cooking). 

Tip in a few teaspoons of soy sauce (not too much or it will dominate the flavor). 

Add in a hearty amount of wostershire sauce. 

Lay your steaks in the sauce and head to a chopping board to chop up your mushrooms. Scatter a couple of mushrooms into the sauce and steaks too along with some mixed herbs (which came in a ready made bottle for me) and grind in some pepper... as you can see my biggest bowl in the house didn't really cut it.

Now you can let the steaks marinade for about half an hour, turning them every few minutes. In the meantime you can get your penne pasta on to the boil. 

Now that your steak has been marinading, put some extra virgin olive oil into a pan and put one steak on to cook. Cook for 4 minutes  or less, depending on how you like your steak. Remove the steak from the pan and set aside in a bowl. Add in the other steak along with all of the sauce and cook for a further four minutes. 

Once both steaks are cooked and the sauce is simmering, remove both steaks and slice into strips. Be careful not to burn yourself. Cut away all of the fatty parts that you don't want to keep and feed them to the dogs or any other unfussy animal you have roaming around your house. 

Put the strips back into the sauce and do the taste test.. add in more ingredients where you see fit.. if you can't pick up enough wine (which you really should be able to after a quarter of a bottle!!) don't be shy to add in more. Season accordingly, but be careful about salt as the soy sauce will have already made it very salty. 

A wise chef once told me you should only ever cut the steak up after cooking it as otherwise it doesn't keep most of the juices. That is why I did it this way but you could cut your steak into strips beforehand if you wanted to. 

Dish up your sauce and steak strips into a bowl of al-dente penne pasta and enjoy! My family all loved it and absolutely adored the sauce. To be honest it is probably one of the best sauces I have made.. and it was so simple too! 

What I could have done differently:

Added in some cream to thicken it up. I was nervous to do this due to it curdling with the wine but I have now learnt how to make sure the cream doesn't curdle so next time it will be even better!

Happy cooking!!

Auntie Jade