The New Year's Feast

We had a dinner party for about 12 on Tuesday night after my meetings and various chores and running amok all over Omaha. When I finally settled down it just a matter of preparation, a quick stop at Trader Joe's and prep work. Lot's of prep work.

The menu was for Steak Pasta since I have a glut of NY Strip roast left from Christmas. I had cut the roast into portions for later as well as this dinner the day after Christmas.

I had cut and roasted about a pint and a half of grape tomatoes, sauteed a good pound of baby Portabella Mushrooms and set everything aside for the main event.

Earlier in the day I had assembled the Caesar Dressing for the salad and had the lettuce washed and drying.

The Caesar Dressing:

1 t salt
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 t Dijon mustard
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 Anchovy filets or a good squeeze of paste(about 3 inches or more)
3 T Tarragon Vinegar
zest and juice of a Lemon
1 t ground pepper
1 coddled egg ( I used a raw egg)
6 T olive oil
1/2 Parmesan Cheese grated

I used my new little processor for this so it was super easy. I did not cook the egg and I added the oil last after mixing the rest. It made a nice dressing but taste the result to adjust seasoning. You may want to use less salt to start. I poured this over a huge bowl of chopped Romaine and croutons with shaved Parmesan. Seemed to be a hit.

For the Pasta, I have posted this before but here goes again:

I have a large chef's pot (5 quart) that I made this in.

Firstly place water to boil for pasta and cook al dente. I used bow ties (Farfalle)

 Sauteed mushrooms, saute these in butter then set aside when the water is given up and they are browned.
Add to the dirty pot:
2 pounds of rare steak cut into bite size pieces, and brown slightly then place the
Roasted tomatoes and mushrooms back into the pot. Scrape up all the brown stuff.
Cover with  1 Quart of Heavy cream and allow to come to a simmer. It should thicken up a bit after a few minutes.
I had about 1/2 pound of Blue Cheese crumbled and 3/4 c grated fresh Parmesan that I added to flavor the sauce. Check for salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta (I used 3 boxes for this recipe) and pour the sauce over and toss. Top with some additional crumbled Blue Cheese.

We served the salad and pasta with garlic toasts.