As I’ve been developing my cooking skills i have been wanting to try new techniques for prep and presesentation. For this dish i will be making full use of fresh tomatoes from start to finish. This is a fun twist to a simple penne pasta.

For this dish you will need the following:

3 petite sirloin steaks

4 large red tomatoes

1 box penne pasta (Alternatively you can use protein penne if available for extra protein)

Assorted seasonings of choice ( for this i used garlic powder, black pepper, basil, mrs dash salt free table blend, steak seasoning, italian seasoning and onion powder)

2 cups heavy whippng cream

1/4 stick of butter

First we will want to place our pot onto the stove with water and cut the bottoms of our tomatoes in an x shape and place into the water. Boil these for 60 seconds. This wi blanche the tomatoes making them easy to work with. Once blanched pour over cool water to stop the internal cooking and drain. Once drained, peel the tomatoes and retain the skins for later. Once peeled place into a blender and blend into a tomato juice.

Next we will place our pasta into water and cook until al dente and drain. While we are waiting for the pasta to cook, we can work on prepping our steak for cooking with our seasonings.  Once the pasta is done we can get to work on our steak. Cook and butter baste to your desired level of pink (or lack thereof if well done). For cooking the steak i utilized a family size forman grill to drain extra fat and once the steaks are done we can put our tomatoe skils in to char a little for presentation.

Once the steak is cooked,  cut it into small bite sized pieces and mix into the pasta. Afterward, heat your heavy whipping cream and add your tomato puree and stir in garlic and onion powder, itallialn seasoning, basil and pepper to add more flavor. Stir until color changes and to desired taste. Pour the sauce into the pasta and heat on a low simmer stirring the pot to blend it all together. Place onto a place and add some of the charred tomato skins and serve!

And there you have it, a simple flavorful dish using all of a tomato. This was a very good dish that has a lot of versatility to it in terms of how to make the sauce and pasta options. Until the next time dear readers. Excelsior!