Tuscan Style Flank Steak with Cacio e Pepe and Artichoke

I have always been and continue to be inspired by Italy and Italian cooking, and their wine. I had also just watched all four ep of Bobby and Giada in Italy, so that helped me some with this dinner.

I tried to keep this simple, pure ingredients as much as possible.
I heavily salt and peppered the steak, then into a bag with the lemon juice and zest, tarragon, fennel seed, oregano, garlic and olive oil. Marinated it for about five hours.
The chimichurri was italian parsley, lemon juice and zest, a shallot, tarragon, olive oil and some salt and pepper.
Butter, pepper, parmesan cheese and the pasta for the Cacio e Pepe.

I started with the artichokes and melon and prosciutto.
Cutting the artichoke in half, I seasoned with olive oil, salt/pepper/garlic powder mix, and dropped a couple cloves of fresh garlic in the middle, wrapped in foil and onto the grill for about 45 minutes.
I cut up a Lemon Drop Melon, sort of a mix of a honeydew melon with a touch of lemon, Prosciutto wrapped the pieces and put on a bed of arugula.

While the steak was resting after the grill, the pasta was cooked until just tender. Melting the butter, adding a lot of pepper (and I mean a lot), I allowed those to combine, then added about a 1/2C of pasta water and the cheese, blended them and added the pasta, and simmered for about five minutes, stirring constantly.
Taking the pasta I nested them, and garnished with some italian parsley.

Cut and topped the steak with the italian parsley chimichurri.

Dinner was fantastic.

Linguini with Rustic Tomato Sauce

Started with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and basil. Browned the meatballs in a cast iron pan, then transferred them to a baking dish and into the oven at 350. Rough cut the tomatoes, onion, crushed the garlic. Garlic and onion in the pan using the meatballs grease for oil. Added tomatoes and cooked for a few minutes. Asparagus seasoned with salt and pepper and into the oven. Allowed the sauce to cook down a little and blend together. Cooked the linguini. Added torn basil to the sauce. Pulled the pasta from the pot and added to the sauce to finish cooking.

Plated the pasta, meatballs and asparagus, added parm cheese and served.
Added some pickled cauliflower on the side.

Paid this with a Cascade Cliffs 2019 Nebbiolo – AMAZING WINE.