Eleven ingredients and forty-five minutes. The sauce is a proper roux — butter, flour, milk — rather than cream reduced down.
There are no vegetables in this at all, and the two halves of the bowl stay separate.
Why This Recipe Works
- Cooking the flour in butter for a minute takes the raw taste out of the roux.
- Adding the milk slowly keeps the sauce smooth rather than lumpy.
- Melting cheddar and Parmesan off a hard boil stops them going grainy.
- Searing the steak cubes in very hot oil chars the edges before the middle overcooks.
- Resting the steak before plating keeps the juices out of the cheese sauce.
Ingredient Notes
- Sharp cheddar and Parmesan
- A cup and a third of a cup. The cheddar is what makes the sauce orange; the Parmesan is the cheese the title names.
- Sirloin in one-inch cubes
- A pound and a quarter, tossed in Cajun seasoning. Beef pieces reach at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Butter, flour and whole milk
- Two tablespoons, two tablespoons and a cup and a half. A roux-based sauce rather than a reduced cream.
- Rigatoni
- Ten ounces of tubes. The shape matters: the ridges are what hold a thick cheese sauce.
How to Make It
Rigatoni al dente
Cook rigatoni until al dente and drain.
Cajun cubes, seared dark to 145F
Toss steak cubes with Cajun seasoning. Sear in very hot oil until dark at the edges and at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit; set aside to rest.
Roux, then milk, simmered thick
Melt butter in a saucepan, whisk in flour for 1 minute, then slowly whisk in milk. Simmer until thick.
Two cheeses, until smooth and orange
Add cheddar and Parmesan until smooth and orange, then stir in paprika. Toss the rigatoni in this cheese sauce.
Steak beside the pasta, not through it
Plate the Cajun steak tips beside the rigatoni rather than mixing them through it, and finish with parsley.
No vegetables, no queso
Do not add vegetables or pepper-jack queso.
Why the Sauce Is Orange
The title promises a Parmesan sauce, and the sauce is a thick ORANGE one - Parmesan alone melts pale. So the Parmesan stays and cheddar joins it, and the build below is what gets from butter to that colour.
The roux
2 tbsp unsalted butter and 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Whisked together for a FULL MINUTE before anything else. That minute cooks the raw taste out of the flour; skipped, the sauce tastes of paste no matter how long it then simmers. This is a roux sauce, not a reduced cream - which is what lets it hold a cup and a third of cheese without splitting.
The liquid, added SLOWLY
1 1/2 cups whole milk
Whisked in gradually and simmered UNTIL THICK. Poured in at once, cold milk seizes a hot roux into lumps that no amount of whisking fully clears.
The colour
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
This is where the colour comes from. Cheddar melts orange, and it is what turns a white sauce into a thick orange one. Added off a hard boil so it melts rather than going grainy.
The name
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Kept deliberately: the title says Parmesan, so it stays. It brings salt and savour where the cheddar brings colour and stretch, and the two together are what the recipe name describes.
The dusting
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Stirred in at the end. A quarter teaspoon deepens the orange a shade further and echoes the Cajun seasoning on the steak without putting more heat in the sauce.
Then taste10 oz of rigatoni tossed through it - tubes, whose ridges hold a thick sauce - and then the crucial plating instruction: 1 1/4 lb of Cajun-seasoned sirloin cubes seared DARK in very hot oil to at least 145F are set BESIDE the pasta, not mixed through it. Step 6 also leaves out any vegetable.
Success Tips
- Whisk the flour for its full minute before any milk goes in.
- Add the milk slowly; poured in at once it will lump.
- Plate the steak alongside — tossing it through would tint the sauce.
Serving Ideas
Four servings in white bowls, the rigatoni in its thick orange cheese sauce dusted with paprika and parsley on one side, the dark charred Cajun steak cubes beside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a Parmesan sauce orange?
Because cheddar is part of this sauce too. The Parmesan of the title stays in, and sharp cheddar is what gives the sauce its colour.
Should I mix the steak through the pasta?
No — step 5 plates it beside the rigatoni, not tossed through the pasta.
Can I add peppers?
No. Step 6 rules out vegetables of any kind, along with pepper-jack queso.
