Tuesday Night Dinner: Beef and Broccoli

I was really stumped this week as to what to make for dinner, so of course, I took my usual route of browsing food blogs for recipes and dinner ideas. When I search for Tuesday night dinner ideas, I tend to look for fast and easy recipes, party recipes, or budget recipes. I made my way to Steamy Kitchen, a beautiful site by a food blogger who actually just released a cookbook recently. She had the most delicious looking picture of beef and Chinese broccoli with noodles that I just couldn't get out of my head, so I knew I had to make that for dinner. I also thought it'd be a good choice because we rarely eat beef at Tuesday night dinners. It was the best decision. I've discovered a recipe that I could probably pretty easily slip into a regular rotation, and it was just so so delicious. At least, that's what I thought, and I think most everyone else agreed.

Broccoli Beef noodle stir fry (adapted from Steamy Kitchen)
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced (Jaden recommends beef sirloin)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons dry white wine, sake, or Shaoxing wine (I used white wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch or cornstarch (I used corn starch)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 pound fresh or 10 oz dried noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1.25 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 pound Chinese broccoli or common broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks or florets (I used Chinese broccoli that I did not bother cutting)
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, and wine. Add sugar and whisk until dissolved. Stir in corn starch until smooth. Add sesame oil and beef and marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Prepare noodles. You can use any kind of noodles here, just prepare according to package directions, but don't quite cook them all the way so you can finish cooking them in the saute pan at the end.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet and stir fry garlic until fragrant. Add the beef and stir fry until tender, just a couple minutes. When you cook the beef, you should cook the slices in a single layer in your pan so it cooks evenly and creates caramelized bits. When the meat is finished, transfer it to a plate and add a little more oil to the pan. Add the broccoli and toss it so it's coated with oil. Pour in a 1/4 cup of the stock, turn the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes and transfer to the same plate as the meat.

This is where I strayed from Jaden's recipe just a little. I tossed my noodles in the saute pan, added oyster, soy sauce, and chicken stock to taste, and tossed it around a little to flavor it and finish the cooking process. I chose to serve the noodles separate from the beef and broccoli so people could have an option of noodles or rice.

Sarah- Iron Chef Blogger Challenge #4- Bok Choy

A couple things to note about this entry:

1. There is NO bok choy in the stir fry above. There would have been, if my favorite grocery hadn't been out of it and if it hadn't been 4 degrees outside. You just cannot expect me to shop around in 4 degree weather.

2. I don't have explicit directions for you... as stir fry is a kind of go as you go thing... but here's how I suggest you do it.

Bok Choy (hold the Bok Choy) Stir Fry

1. Marinade veggies and chicken (for 3 people I used 2 breasts) separately for at least 30 minutes. Poke little fork holes in your chicken so the sauce gets in there good. I used Panda Express "Mandarin Sauce", soy sauce, garlic and ginger in amounts that looked delicious for marinade and carrots, broccoli and snow peas. I'd also suggest Bok Choy, brown onions, spinach, cauliflower (we'll I'd suggest it if I like it) and bean sprouts.

2. Cook plain white rice (about 1/2 cup per person is plenty!) in a rice cooker.... or you know, however you want.

3. When rice is done, throw your chicken in a pan (along with the left over marinade) and start to cook. Throw your veggies in a wok (with all the left over marinade). Cook chicken till opaque through, cook veggies till slightly wilted.

4. Plate! (Can you tell I've been watching too many cooking shows?) Put the rice on, then veggies, then chicken. Then top with some Mandarin Sauce and soy sauce. Sirracha hot sauce is really good, but super hot so use sparingly. Teryaki sauce is good too, if you aren't fond of Mandarin sauce (me, I could live on it and really did in college).

Carrie: Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Bok Choy

Erica chose bok choy as this week's secret ingredient. I've cooked with bok choy on an occasion; it's another ingredient that I grew up eating. It's a Chinese vegetable, most similar to a cabbage or lettuce. It was also very handy because in the December Real Simple was a recipe for gingery bok choy. They pair it with sesame chicken, but seeing as how I didn't want to have to purchase sesame seeds, I decided against their chicken. I paired my gingery bok choy with teriyaki ginger chicken. It was pretty good, though I may have added a little too much soy sauce. I'm not much for measuring.

Gingery Bok Choy
bok choy or baby bok choy
grated fresh ginger
soy sauce
corn starch
sugar

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce (about a 1/4 cup to start) with ginger, sugar(1 or 2 Tbsp), water(1 Tbsp), and a tsp of corn starch. Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat and add the bok choy. Cook until it softens, 1 to 2 minutes, then add soy sauce mixture and cook until liquid thickens slightly and bok choy is tender, 3 to 4 minutes.

Other Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Bok Choy Recipes
Bok Choy (Sans) Noodle Salad
Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce

Wednesday Night Dinners: Sushi

I apologize for the lack of updates. Sometimes, you just don't feel like cooking. Or I've cooked, but it's not anything special. But I feel bad about not updating so here we go. I am at least going to attempt to start posting my Wednesday Night Dinners. Sometimes there will be a recipe, sometimes just a photo of what we made and a quick commentary. But I thought that would add a fun element and then you'll hear from me at least once a week.

To introduce, Wednesday Night Dinners started a few weeks ago. A couple friends and I gathered for dinner one Wednesday night, then another Wednesday night, and then we realized we could do this every Wednesday. It's a pretty consistent cast of characters now. The photo below is from two weeks ago when we attempted to make our own sushi. Pretty amateur, but pretty fun.



For more detailed sushi instructions, try The Pioneer Woman's sushi how-tos.