Steak w/ "I'm Feeling a little Greek" Mac & Cheese

Start a pot of water for your choice of pasta, 1 pound. When it comes to a boil add a couple tablespoons of Salt. Use pasta like elbow macaroni, penne, ziti, etc.  Saute 2-3 diced shallots and 2 tablespoons minced garlic in 3 tablespoons of butter, plus 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil.  Cook until shallots are soft. If you do not have shallots you can use 1/2 of a small onion, finely chopped. 

MMMMMM....bacon!! This was left over I had in the fridge. I chopped it into bite size pieces. 

Added one pint of Half N Half for one pound of pasta. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. *To speed things up, You could do a classic Bechamel Sauce: 1 or 2 tablespoons butter, melted and flour (equal parts). Whisk over medium-high heat until it becomes thick and pastie. Then add approx. 2 cups of 2% milk.

Added one small jar of marinated artichoke hearts.  I lightly rinsed the hearts before I added them.

Added 1 pound of Ziti pasta and Feta (1 1/2 cups) and grated Parmesan (1/2 cup). I added the Feta at the same time I added the pasta so that I end up with small chunks of Feta because I like the flavor. If you don't want chunks, add it to the cream mixture/Bechamel to melt a little more before adding the pasta.

Mac N Cheese all done!!! If the cheese sauce gets too tight (thick), I will add a little bit of the pasta water, or you could use some warm chicken stock or milk.

Toasted 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs with Lemon pepper in a little bit of olive oil in a skillet on the stove. A little crunch for the top of my Mac N Cheese.

Came up with the idea of Mac N Cheese because we are having steak. 2 are marinated in a packet of Southwestern spiced marinade. One is just Salt & Pepper. 

The grill would not light, so oven broiled it had to be. 3-5 minutes on each side, rare/medium rare. Cook it longer if you don't like the rare side. I topped the salt & peppered steak with a medallion of a compound butter that I made. (I mention the compound butter recipe in the Philly Cheese Steak post) It really did add to the flavor of the steak. Let your steak rest at least 5 minutes before slicing into it so it won't be dry.

Finished plate!! Looks yummy! I'll eat half the steak and have the rest on a salad tomorrow!! Got plenty of left over Mac N Cheese for my lucky co-workers....they're foodies...like me!