Thirteen ingredients and forty-five minutes, using a skillet and a separate saucepan.
There are no vegetables in this at all. The bowl is steak, pasta and two distinct sauces.
Why This Recipe Works
- Thick strips take a hard sear without overcooking through.
- Reducing the glaze after the steak comes out concentrates it rather than steaming the meat.
- Making the cream sauce in a separate pan keeps it pale.
- A little pasta water loosens the cream sauce to a coating rather than a blanket.
- Plating the steak over the pasta keeps both sauces visible.
Ingredient Notes
- Top sirloin, in thick strips
- A pound and a quarter cut into thick strips rather than cubes. Whole-muscle beef, so at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Honey and soy sauce
- Two tablespoons of each, reduced in the pan the steak left. This is the dark glaze and it stays on the meat.
- Cream and Parmesan
- Three quarters of a cup and a third of a cup, in a separate saucepan. This is the pale sauce and it stays on the pasta.
- Rotini
- Eight ounces of spirals. The shape matters — spirals hold a light coating where a smooth shape would shed it.
How to Make It
Rotini al dente, water reserved
Cook rotini until al dente; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Sear the strips to 145F, rest
Season steak strips. Sear in hot oil until darkly caramelised and at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit; transfer out and rest briefly.
Reduce the glaze, toss the steak
Add honey, soy sauce, garlic, and rice vinegar to the pan and reduce to a sticky brown glaze. Toss the steak strips in the glaze and set aside.
A separate pale cream sauce
In a separate saucepan, melt butter, add cream and Parmesan, and loosen with a little pasta water so the rotini gets a light pale coating rather than a heavy sauce.
Steak over the pasta, not through it
Toss rotini with the pale cream sauce, then plate glazed steak strips over it without mixing the dark glaze through the pasta.
Parsley, no vegetables
Finish with parsley and no vegetables.
Two Sauces, Deliberately Not Mixed
Almost every pasta dish ends by tossing everything together. This one ends with an instruction NOT to - and the two tracks below are the reason. Mixed, they would make one muddy brown sauce; kept apart, the bowl shows both.
The skillet: the dark side
- First
1 1/4 lb of top sirloin cut into THICK STRIPS, seasoned with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and seared in 1 tbsp of hot oil until DARKLY CARAMELISED and at least 145F, then out to rest. Thick strips rather than cubes: a cube has more surface for its mass and is through to the middle before the outside caramelises.
- Once the steak is out
2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 3 minced garlic cloves and 1 tsp rice vinegar reduced in the same pan to a STICKY BROWN GLAZE. Reduced after the meat leaves, so the pan is not steaming a piece of beef while the glaze concentrates.
- Then held
The strips tossed back through the glaze and SET ASIDE. They are finished at this point and wait; nothing else happens to them.
The saucepan: the pale side
- Before either
8 oz of rotini cooked al dente with 1/2 CUP OF PASTA WATER RESERVED. The spirals matter - a rotini's grooves hold a light coating that a smooth shape would shed.
- In a SEPARATE pan
1 tbsp butter melted, then 3/4 cup cream and 1/3 cup Parmesan, LOOSENED with a little of the pasta water so the rotini gets a LIGHT PALE COATING rather than a heavy sauce. Separate is the operative word: made in the skillet, this sauce would pick up the glaze and stop being pale.
They meet on the plate and nowhere else
The rotini is tossed with the pale cream sauce FIRST, then the glazed steak strips are PLATED OVER IT - step 5's own words are 'without mixing the dark glaze through the pasta'. Then 2 tbsp of parsley, and step 6 adds: no vegetables. You want a pale coating on the pasta that is separate from the dark glaze on the steak.
Success Tips
- Cut the steak into thick strips; thin ones overcook before they caramelise.
- Reduce the glaze after the steak is out, not around it.
- Plate the steak on top rather than tossing everything together.
Serving Ideas
Four servings in white bowls, the rotini in its light pale coating with the dark caramelised glazed steak strips laid over the top and chopped parsley scattered on. No vegetables in the bowl.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just toss it all together?
Step 5 says not to. The dark glaze belongs on the steak and the pale cream on the pasta, and keeping them apart is what the finished bowl looks like.
How is this different from the honey garlic beef bites?
Those are chuck cubes slow-cooked in honey, soy, broth, garlic and Worcestershire, with no pasta. This is seared sirloin strips over rotini.
Should I add vegetables?
No — step 6 says parsley and no vegetables. The bowl is steak, pasta and the two sauces.
