- Cooking time
- 30 mins
- Difficulty
- Easy Recipes
- Serves
- 4 people
- Dinner
- July 18, 2016
Steak & Blue Cheese Pasta with Roasted Broccoli
Steak is a luxury for me. I rarely eat red meat, by choice, so when I do have it, I really go all out.
Every so often my body gets a massive craving for steak. I’ll randomly think about it and it will dominate all of my thoughts until I sate said craving. I go full-on cave man.
Me want STEAK. Juicy. Seared to perfection. RIGHT NOW.
When I do opt for steak – and since it’s such a decadence for me – I’ll pair it with some indulgent sides, like freshly caught crab, cream cheese mashed potatoes and/or a big slab of blue cheese. Go big or go home, no?
I’m not a huge fan of blue cheese UNLESS it’s paired with steak. The combination is utterly mouthwatering!
Usually, blue cheese is a bit too stinky for my taste, but oh my god, if it’s slathered on top of a juicy grilled steak I will devour it in a heartbeat. Juicy red meat and a creamy, earthy blue cheese… have you tried it? I suggest you do. You’ll never eat steak the same way again.
In true foodie fashion, I tried something a bit different when my last steak craving hit. While I was craving steak, I was also craving carbs, which naturally meant: pair it with pasta!
The blue cheese in this dish is whisked into a creamy but very light “sauce” – actually, it’s less of a sauce and more of a simple noodle coating. It’ll coat the noodles and give them that slight, earthy, blue cheese tang. Use more blue cheese for a pungent flavour, and less for a more subtle one.
Adding some roasted broccoli makes this a balanced meal. I’m really digging broccoli lately… it seems like such a strange thing to be in to, but I can’t get enough. Especially the stems – don’t throw those out! They roast up just as well as the florets and have a bit more crunch and texture.
Top with some sliced steak, parsley, and a bit of freshly grated Parmesan, and this is a dinner that’s easy enough to put together, but impressive enough to seem hella fancy. Serve it on your next date night, perhaps?
Steak & Blue Cheese Pasta with Roasted Broccoli
Ingredients
Broccoli:
- 2 heads broccoli, chopped into small florets (about 4 cups worth)
- Olive oil
- Red pepper flakes
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Steak:
- 300 g strip steak
- Salt & pepper
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 400 g penne pasta
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 100 to 200 g blue cheese, crumbled*
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish
- Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Lay the broccoli florets on the foil and drizzle with a bit of olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, stirring once, until broccoli is cooked through and slightly charred. Set aside.
- To make the steak: Season the steak with salt and pepper. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook, about 3 minutes per side, until desired doneness. If the steaks are quite thick, you’ll have to cook them for a few minutes longer. Remove steak from heat and tent with foil for 10 minutes, then slice (against the grain) into thin strips.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil, and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, and reserve a bit of the pasta water. Keep pasta in the strainer as you make the sauce.
- To make sauce: In the pot that had the pasta in it, heat the butter, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper, whisking constantly, until smooth. Add pasta back to the pot, and toss to coat. Stir in broccoli and parsley. If desired, add a splash of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce.
- Divide pasta into bowls and top with sliced steak, a sprinkling of parsley, some extra blue cheese, and freshly grated Parmesan.
