1/20/12 - Beef & Veggie stir fry

I love our Frankoma plates!
I think of Sean's Grandma,
Helen Soja, every time we use them.
I miss that lady.

I had some veggies that I needed to use so I decided to make beef and veggie stir-fry.  I decided to serve it with brown rice and some Tai Pei chicken egg rolls that were rescued from the bottom of the deep freeze (http://taipeifood.com/products/ps_and_er/chicEggRoll_24oz.html).

To cook the brown rice I used the tried and true Alton Brown recipe I found last year (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe/index.html).  Perfect rice every time, well except the time I doubled the recipe.  If you choose to double it use separate baking dishes (last time I used a 9” cake pan because it was closest).  Make sure to put the dish on a baking sheet before putting in the oven.  Makes it much easier to move the dish and saves your oven if some of the water splashes out.  As for the egg rolls I put them in at the end of the cooking time for the brown rice.  Since the cooking times were different I turned up the heat for a bit once the brown rice was done.  I found that cooking them at the low temp followed by the higher heat made them crispier.

Using the last of the thin cut meat I had bought from Walmart I very thinly sliced it and marinated it in soy sauce, fresh minced garlic and fresh grated ginger (first time using fresh ginger).  While the meat was marinating I chopped up the veggies I needed to use up…broccoli, button mushrooms, white onion and asparagus.  I sautéed the mushrooms alone so they could brown, once they were done I added the white onion and cooked till it was translucent.  Once that was done I quickly steamed the broccoli and asparagus halfway then stir-fried them till done.

When the veggies were done I quickly cooked the meat in two different batches.  Literally took 90 second per batch over medium high heat in a little olive oil.  To finish of the meat I sprinkled a liberal amount of sesame seed in the pan to brown a bit and then added the meat and back in to coat.  Last step was adding the veggies so everything could be evenly distributed.

Verdict:  This was crazy good.  I don’t know if it was the marinade that just brought it all together or the fact that everything was cooked just right and not rushed but I really loved this meal.  Since I was sick the weekend I made this I ate this like 4 times with a healthy dose of chili paste in it and some more soy sauce.  I can’t wait to make this again.