Steak with creamy mushroom orzo and chimichurri

A 30 minute meal to knock your socks off

I don’t eat steak that often, so when I do it feels like a special occasion and one I want to make the most of. This dish is truly so incredibly delicious. And easy too. Which makes it all the better.

You know we are all about maximum results for minimal effort here at Dinner Tonight and this dish really epitomises that philosophy. Knock your socks off delicious, but ready in less than 30 minutes and we are only going to use one pan. Oh and a bowl to make the chimichurri. So this is a one pan and one bowl supper. Not quite as catchy…but hey ho.

I love orzo for a quick weeknight supper and this way of cooking it is very nice. You can cook it just like you would with pasta, but here we are treating it more like a risotto and adding all the flavour in at the start. It soaks up so much flavour as it cooks and it’s just a good hack for making your orzo taste amazing without any added effort on your part. I make this sometimes where I don’t add cream - I call it a day with stock and a little Parmesan and it’s rich and a little lighter. You could also add some porcini mushrooms that you buy dried and then soak in a little hot water - tip the whole lot, stock and all, into the orzo and it adds an amazing umami flavour. But there are times when only a whole lot of cheese will do. And adding taleggio is so good I can’t even tell you, Boursin would also work really well or any kind of creamy, melty cheese. Yum.

When it comes to steak, when I’m cooking at home I love a Rib Eye. And here are my top steak cooking tips:

1. Bring the steak to room temperature

This makes an amazing difference to cooking the steak through evenly

2. Pat dry and season the steak generously with salt and pepper

This helps form the delicious crust on the outside of a perfectly cooked steak

3. Get your pan SMOKING HOT before putting the steak in

This is important - if your steak doesn’t sizzle in quite an excited way when you lay it in the pan, you’re never going to get the golden crust on the outside

4. Rub your steak with olive oil, don’t put the oil in the pan

If you don’t want to set off every smoke alarm in the house, this is key

5. Remove the steak from the pan BEFORE it get’s to your perfect level of “doneness” because the internal temperature will continue to rise as it rests

6. REST your steak for at least 10 minutes

This is very very important and should never be skipped. This gives the steak time for the fibres to relax so that the juices can soak back in. It makes the world of difference!