Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I have to confess that it took me a while to get my stir fry dishes to taste the way I thought that they should taste. I think part of  my problem was that I under seasoned the dish and that I had a reluctance to use some of the prepared sauces -- such as hoisin, oyster or teriyaki -- that are readily available in the grocery stores. These items allow you to get some almost authentic taste without purchasing a bunch of different spices that you'll only use now and then. Another revelation for me has been purchasing and using fresh ginger. You can freeze a "knob" of ginger, which means it will last a really long time. By freezing it, I've got it on hand when I need it. Fresh ginger makes the same fantastic difference in a dish that fresh garlic does, as opposed to using garlic powder. It is, however, spicier than you think, so proceed with caution. Use a  microplane grater for grating the ginger --you'll achieve better results than with a box grater. You must peel off the tough outer layer before you begin to grate it and you'll need a really sharp knife to do that. You can also mince it, but be sure to mince it very finely.

This beef and broccoli stir fry hits the spot on a cold winter night. It evolved simply from what I had on hand in my freezer and pantry. It's pretty quick and easy, and delicious. Skip the take-out this week and try my tasty Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry! The key to successful stir frying is to do the prep work in advance. Once you begin to actually cook, it will take very  little time. Since rice takes longer -- especially if you use brown rice -- start that first, 30 minutes or so before you begin to stir fry. I like to add a cube of bouillon to the water and use that in place of salt in the rice, but either way works fine. You can also serve this over rice noodles if you prefer.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
serves 4

For the stir fry: 
3/4 lb. lean sirloin or tenderloin tips, cut into bite size pieces  
1/2 tsp. Chinese 5 Spice Blend (always at my grocery store) aka "Pae-Lo" Powder                               1 T. soy sauce
2 cups broccoli florets, fresh or frozen (if frozen, rinse them and let them thaw a little bit)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced (no need to be too thin)
1/4 c. carrot cut into match sticks or shaved with a vegetable slicer
2 tsp.  minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 - 2  tsp. grated fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp. ginger powder)
1 c. quartered (if very large) or halved mushrooms (shiitake if you can find them, otherwise use button or baby bellas)
1 small can sliced water chestnuts, optional
Peanut oil for frying

For the sauce:
1 cube beef bouillon
3/4 c, water
2 T. hoisin sauce
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. sriracha sauce
2 tsp. seasoned rice wine vinegar
1T. teriyaki sauce
pinch of salt
a pinch of dried red pepper flakes (if you like a little heat)
1 heaping T. corn starch

2 cups rice for serving ( I used a 1/2 brown 1/2 white rice mixture)

Cut your beef into bite sized pieces and lay them on a paper towel to dry. This will help with the searing.   While the beef is drying off, prepare your vegetables, ginger and garlic.

Drying the beef.

Veggie prep.

Get out your wok or a big, heavy frying pan and preheat it on medium high heat. You want the pan to be HOT. Prepare your ingredients in advance, this goes quickly!

Get the sauce ready before you begin. Heat the water and dissolve the bouillon cube in it. Add all the remaining ingredients -- except for the corn starch! -- and stir well to combine.

Big ol' wok with beef and onions.

Pour enough peanut oil to coat the bottom of the pan's' surface in a thin layer. When the oil begins to shimmer, you are ready to begin the stir fry. Add the beef to the skillet in a single layer. Sprinkle the beef with the 5 Spice Blend. Let the beef sear before you begin to move it around in the pan. This happens pretty quickly so be ready with a long spoon to stir with.  I always wear an apron when stir frying. The oil is hot and it will splatter! When the beef is light brown all over, add the onions.

When the onions start to turn gold and soften, add the soy sauce and then the broccoli, carrots and garlic. Continue to stir for about 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Be careful not to break them up -- that's why I recommend quartering or halving them as opposed to slicing them. Lastly, add the water chestnuts, if using. They add a nice crunch!

Ready for the sauce.

Now it's time to add the sauce. Stir the corn starch into the sauce right before you pour it over the stir fry in the skillet. Make sure all of the corn starch is dissolved. Mix the sauce gently in the skillet and turn the heat down once it begins to bubble. Cover the pan -- I have an extra large lid, but a sheet of aluminum foil will work fine. Let everything cook together about 5 minutes -- or until the vegetables are as soft as YOU like them. Serve over rice  (or rice noodles if you prefer).

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry, close up.
This batch didn't have water chestnuts in it, simply because there weren't any in the pantry! 

Deconstructing Boef Bourguignon

I've always loved Boef Bourguignon. My mom made an abbreviated version of it while I was growing up, using 2 different kinds of canned soup. Once I started to cook on my own, I wanted to do it the correct way. I've followed (almost) the recipe of the original celebrity chef, Julia Child, for many years.

If you read this blog, I've written about my love of Julia and all things French several times. Here's my original Boef Bourguignon post from a while back. I still love that recipe, but I decided to tinker around with it a little bit.

Since I love to cook, and it was my birthday, I got to cook and eat what I wanted. That's always been our family tradition: You get to pick your birthday dinner and eat what you want on your special day. My husband can make a great breakfast, and is an excellent sandwich maker, but I pretty much rule at dinnertime. SO, I did exactly what I wanted to do this past weekend: I tinkered around with a recipe and made what I wanted, and what I did was to deconstruct Boef Bourguignon.

What I mean was that instead of using bits of stew beef or the end of a larger roast, I used a whole steak. I got the idea for this watching Ina Garten, my current favorite Food Network chef, making a dinner to deliver to a friend for a dinner party. Ina was a caterer first, so I figured she'd know all about celebratory meals and presentation. I've altered her recipe a bit, eliminating some of the butter and thickening agents she recommended. I used my favorite cut of steak, an inch thick piece of tenderloin. In the original recipe, the beef is summered a long time in rich, wine gravy and then served over something, either noodles, or potatoes, or even rice, as my mom served it. In this version, I seared the steaks, made a delicious sauce and served it with mashed potatoes. This recipe has the advantage of allowing you to serve the steaks RARE, which is the way I really enjoy them. It was a winner! I wrote this recipe for 2, since only my husband and I were at home, but you could easily double it. Using a whole steak per person made it seem like more of a celebratory meal unlike a stew, which while delicious isn't the most elegant meal. This meal has the added bonus of one that is very easily made in advance. You only have to heat the sauce and finish cooking the steaks at meal time.

Deconstructed Boef Bourguignon with Mashed Potatoes

Deconstructed Boef Bourguignon

For 2

2 1" thick pieces of beef tenderloin

2 rashers of bacon

2 T. butter, divided use

1 c. dry red wine

1/2 cup beef broth, stock or consomme' 

1 tsp. minced fresh garlic

6 - 8 baby carrots, thinly sliced

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 T. tomato paste

12 oz. cremini mushrooms (baby portobellos)

12 pearl onions (frozen is fine, that's what I used)

Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Mashed potatoes, baked potatoes or egg noodles for serving

First and very importantly, dry your steaks by draining them on a paper towel. They won't brown properly unless you do this. I know that the picture is kind of gross, but this is a very important step. 

Dry those steaks! 

While the steak is drying, mince the garlic and clean the mushrooms. Cut them in half or quarters if they are very large. Dry them as well, draining on a paper towel. This is important for the same reason as the beef, they need to be dry to cook properly. NEVER argue with Julia. 

Heat a medium sized frying pan over low heat. Choose a pan at least 3" deep, with a heavy bottom, so that the steaks will brown evenly and not stick. Add the two rashers of bacon and fry them until crisp. 

Remove the bacon to drain on yet another paper towel. Pour off almost all the bacon grease from the pan, leaving just enough to keep the steak from sticking. Turn the heat up to medium and add the steaks. Cook the steaks about 2 minutes per side, turning once. you only want to sear them. 

Sear steaks briefly, only a minute or 2 to brown them.

After searing put the steaks aside on a plate, and add 1 T. butter to the skillet. Scrape up all the browned bits in the bottom. Don't let the butter burn! Add the garlic and sliced carrots to the pan, and keep stirring and scraping for a minute or so. Add the red wine and keep on scraping and stirring. Let it come to a boil and then add the beef broth. Drop the thyme and tomato paste into the sauce. Sprinkle in 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt and a few grindings of fresh black pepper. 

Fresh time and tomato paste going into the sauce. 

Bring this to a boil, cover the pan, turn it down to low heat and let the sauce cook for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring every now and again to make sure nothing is sticking. This will smell heavenly and make everyone in the hungry. While the sauce is cooking, melt 1 T. butter over medium heat, in a small non-stick skillet. When the butter is melted and the foam has subsided (wait for the foam part, or Julia will haunt you), and then add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are lightly browned, stirring them to make sure each surface area is browned. Turn them off while waiting for the sauce to finish cooking. When the carrots are tender, add the mushrooms, crumbled bacon and the pearl onions to the sauce.

We love mushrooms! The pearl onions make it seem special. 

Doesn't that look good? Cover that pan once again, and let the flavors come together, cooking for at least 10 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning, adding a little more salt and pepper as needed. Be careful here, you may not need any more (I didn't). It depends on how salty your beef broth is, how strong the wine flavor is and how much liquid the mushrooms give off. TASTE! Don't just add. You can remove the thyme stems if they are still whole and visible. The leaves will just fall off. 

At this point, you can refrigerate everything (Separately! Don't put the steak in the sauce until you are ready to reheat it!) and heat everything up later in the day, or even the next day. When you are ready to eat, get the sauce hot again, and add the steaks into it. Cover and let them cook for 4 - 5 minutes for rare steaks, 6 -7 minutes for medium. If you like your meat well done, don't bother with tenderloin, just follow the first, original recipe. No need to spend the extra money on good steaks! 

Serve along side mashed potatoes (our choice) or over baked potatoes or egg noodles. 

I promise, this was YUMMY!

Pot Roast and More on a Monday Night

Pot Roast with green beans on a Monday night.

I've always held the position that you should serve a good dinner on Monday night. Monday can be a tough day for anyone, whether you are returning to the office, work at home, go to school, stay home with your kids (work at home, I know) or even if you are retired. After a busy weekend, we often start the week out stressed or tired, and I know at least two people who say they have a hard time sleeping on Sunday night, because they are worried about Monday! 

I've written about this phenomenon before, and you can read about it, and check out my recipe for Pork Roast, HERE .

To combat those Monday doldrums, it's nice to have a good dinner to look forward to. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to drag your slow cooker out of the closet and put it to good use. Today, mine is simmering away with a pot roast and vegetables. See how old mine is? It still works really, really well.

My Old Slow Cooker. Still works.

My mother made good pot roast and she always used a chuck roast. We've decide we don't love a shoulder roast. Chuck is better, but try and find one on sale. It used to be a cheap cut, not so much anymore.

 There are many ways to cook a pot roast:  In the oven, on top of the stove or a combination of both cooking methods. The easiest way by far is to dump everything into the slow cooker, turn it on and walk away. The gravy suffers a little, but I'll give you some tips on how to fix it up, so that it tastes very much like the gravy you get when you first sear the roast and then slow cook it. This is a BASIC recipe and you can certainly experiment with herbs that you like. I've thrown in a bay leaf, used summer savory, and added a little fresh rosemary and thyme to this, all with good results. Think of this like a map to get you in and out of the kitchen quickly on a busy day.
At the very end, I'll tell you how to make your leftover roast into the best beef stew ever! IF you've got any leftovers!
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
2 - 2.5 lbs. chuck roast, excess fat removed
1 cup tomato sauce
2+ T. worcestershire sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
4 medium onion
4 medium all purpose potatoes, peeled
16 mini carrots, or 4 whole carrots, cut into 4 - 6 pieces
1/4 c. dry red wine**
3/4 c. beef bouillon, divided usage
2 T. corn starch
kosher salt and coarse pepper

Cut an onion in half and dice one half of it into very small dice. Put that in the bottom of your slow cooker along with 1/2 of the  minced garlic. Take 2 mini carrots or 1 piece of a whole carrot and slice thinly. Place that on top of the garlic and onions and then put your roast on top of that. Sprinkle the roast with salt pepper and the worcestershire sauce. Pour on the red wine and 1/2 c. of the tomato sauce. Put on the lid, turn your cooker on high and go get a shower or throw in a load of laundry and make the bed or all 3 of these. Leave that mixture in there for about an hour, then on top of the roast, layer in the potatoes, alternating them with the rest of the onions that have been peeled and cut in half. If you are using herbs, add them now. Make sure they are distributed evenly on top of the meat, potatoes and onions. Throw the rest of the carrots and garlic on top. Pour another 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, and the beef broth over everything, and sprinkle once more with salt and pepper. Put the top on, turn the cooker down to low and leave it alone for 6 - 8 hours. 
When you are almost ready to eat, remove the vegetables and the roast carefully with a slotted spoon to a large oven proof platter or big shallow serving bowl. Place this into a preheated 250 degree oven. You'll get a little color on your roast and potatoes like you'd seared them. 
Pour the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into a saucepan. Mash up any big pieces with the back of a fork. Mix the remaining beef bouillon with 2 heaping T. corn starch and enough water so that it measures 1/2 cup total.  Make sure that the corn starch dissolves into the liquid. Pour it into the saucepan, turn the heat to medium high and start stirring. Add a drop or 2 of worcestershire sauce. When it boils and thickens, turn the heat down to low and  cover it. If you want the gravy a little thicker, mix another T. of corn starch with 2 T. of water and add it to the gravy. Let it bubble gently for about 5 minutes and then serve it along with the roast and veggies. Serves 4 amply. We like it with fresh green beans but you could make a salad or heat up some bread)

Pot Roast with Potatoes, Onions and Carrots

If you've got any meat, gravy and vegetables leftover, try this:

Leftover Beef Stew
Leftover pot roast and gravy (you need at least 1 c. beef and 1/2 c. gravy)
+ any vegetables you have leftover, all cut into bite sized pieces
3 1/2 c. beef stock or 1 can Campbells beef consomme' plus 2 1/2  c. water
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. thinly sliced carrot
1 clove minced garlic
3 medium all purpose potatoes, cut into 1/2" dice
8 frozen "pearl onions" from a bag 
1/2 c. dry red wine**
1 T. tomato paste
kosher salt and coarse pepper
1 slice crisp cooked bacon, optional

Place the beef stock or consomme' along with the chopped onion, carrots, garlic and potatoes, into a heavy medium to larger sized sauce pan -- not your huge one, but not the one you heat up soup in either. (Add water until the vegetables are covered by 1" of water, if necessary.) Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Turn the stove on high and bring to a boil. Turn down and let it simmer 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. When the vegetables are tender, add 1/2 c. dry red wine tomato paste and the pearl onions, and bring it back up to a boil. Let that cook about 5 minutes and add your pot roast, gravy and any veggies that were leftover. I like to cook this 30+ minutes over a low heat so that the stew really comes together. Add the bacon for the last few minutes of cooking, if using. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if you need it. 

**You can always substitute beef stock/broth for the wine in either of these recipes.

Grilling Shish Kabob and Back Yard Living

I think Shish Kabob is one of  the easiest meals to make and yet still delicious. My family has always done it, especially when there were lots of us to feed, because it is very budget friendly. You can take an inexpensive cut of meat, cut it into cubes and marinate it and it will go a loooong way. While I am sure there are much more sophisticated marinades, I still use the same one my grandmother always made to cook outside in her big backyard in Hampton, VA. Vegetables were always plentiful and cheap, so it was easy to fill out the meal, paired with a big dish of rice.

Grilling shish kabob and eating it brings back so many happy childhood memories for me. My grandfather worked long, hard hours, so my grandmother and mother always "manned" the grill. When we visited in the summertime, there were always lots of cousins, aunts and uncles who ostensibly came to "see us",  but the reality was, our family always loved to get together. Any old excuse to eat outside was good enough! SO, out came the bags of charcoal and the long picnic table, set up under the crepe myrtles that were in the middle of the yard, and put us kind of in the shade. Corn would be shucked, mostly by the kids, pitchers of lemonade set out, along with a few cans of bug spray. Highballs were mixed, beers chilled in old metal coolers or washtubs and the party would be on it's way.

We tried to get dinner ready so that we ate as the sun was about to set and the temperature would start drop a little. My grandfather would arrive, just in time to get cleaned up and eat with the family. No man has ever been welcomed home so joyfully! Hot and tired as he was, he always had a big smile and hug for every one of us.

The timing of the meal was such that it was light enough and you could still see your food, but starting to cool off. We could just barely stand to be away from the fans and one huge, hardworking air conditioner that labored away overtime. We could only eat outside in the backyard if the heat and humidity had receded a little. The Virginia peninsula is a hot and humid environment, with notoriously sticky summers. The kitchen was always hot during the summer months, no matter how hard we tried to cool it, as was the "breakfast room". While eating outside was sticky, it was often hotter in the kitchen. Late 50's and even into the 60's, almost no one had central air in Virginia, especially in an old house.

After dinner, if the bugs weren't too bad, we'd lounge around the back yard, kids chasing lightning bugs, or organizing games of "No Bears Out Tonight" while the grown-ups sipped their libations of choice. If we were lucky, or it was a holiday, we'd wave sparklers with wild abandon, conjuring up spells and making rainbows in the night. There were always a few mayonnaise jars with holes punched in the lids, so we could collect the lightening bugs we caught. Rich chocolate cakes or strawberry shortcakes were usually the desserts of choice, but Grandaddy always retreated, sooner rather than later, to inside and the air conditioner and a bowl of ice cream. He'd had enough of the heat and humidity.

Big, fat, lemony smelling citronella candles in clear and colored oval glass holders would be lit and set down the length of the picnic table and next to the lawn chairs on little metal tables. Later, out would come my grandmother's mouth harp, and she'd softly warm up with "You Are My Sunshine". If the bugs got too bad, we'd retreat to the nearby screened porch.  Many nights we just stayed where we were, under the crepe myrtles. Those who felt inclined, would sing and sing and sing:  Old hymns and folk songs, sung and hummed in gentle harmonies, until the little ones would nod off and be carried away, to sleep on any available bed or couch. It was a dear, sweet way to grow up.  I can still smell the nearby marsh and creek, mixed up with scents from my grandmothers' flowers and the honeysuckle that grew in the hedge. How lucky we were...

Eating Shish Kabob over brown rice, outside on a perfect night on the patio!

Making Shish Kabob

This is a method, as opposed to a recipe. It's easy and inexpensive and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!
One large London Broil or Sirloin Steak, cut into 1:" cubes AND/OR
2 - 3 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 green pepper, 1 large onion, 1 pint fresh mushrooms, 1 pint cherry tomatoes or 4 - 5 large slightly under ripe tomatoes
Zucchini and or yellow squash, cut into 1" thick rounds (optional)
3 c. cooked rice (at least this amount for 6 or more servings)
Metal or bamboo skewers
Marinade for the Beef: 1 c. Wishbone French Dressing, 2 T. Worcestershire Sauce, pinch black pepper, 2 tsp. Adolf's Meat Tenderizer, no MSG kind

Marinade for the Vegetables and Chicken: Your choice, 2c. Wishbone Light Italian or French Dressing, or mixture of one on one vegetable, one on another (see below for how I do it).

It's easy, cut up the meat and wash the veggies. Cut the peppers and onions to about 1' sized cubes. Leave the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes whole; If using big tomatoes, cut them into quarters. Put the meat in one bowl with the marinade, and the chicken and veggies in another. Keep the MEAT AND CHICKEN SEPARATE! Don't mix them in with the veggies or with one another (food safety, you know!).
Don't marinate the chicken, tomatoes or mushrooms until about 30 minutes before you plan to grill them. You can marinate the meat overnight if you like to cook ahead. I like to marinate the onions and peppers in French dressing and the chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms in Light Italian. I also prefer the squash and zucchini in the Italian dressing. My grandmother did everything in the French, and she did not include any chicken, so this is purely a matter of preference.

Shish Kabob skewers ready for the grill

When you skewer the meat, push it together on the kabob so one piece touches the other one, not loosely with space between each square. Same way for the vegetables, as shown in my pictures. (no chicken shown in the pictures) Skewer the meat separately from the veggies. I know the cooking shows on TV always have the meat and veggies skewered together, but I find that the harder vegetables take longer to cook than the meat and the softer vegetables. We usually skewer the the peppers and onions together and the tomatoes and mushrooms together or each on their own skewers. Same thing for the squash, if we are using it.

The big chunks of onions and peppers will take the longest, next the meats, then the soft veggies. We eat our beef rare, so we don't cook it too long, usually about 4 - 5 minutes on each side. Cook it longer if you like well done. Conversely, we prefer our vegetables a little more cooked, so they soften, so we cook them about 8 - 10 minutes on each side. Be sure to cook the chicken completely through, with no pink showing.
When we serve it, I like to put the rice on a LARGE serving platter and then just pile on the meat and veggies. Keeping them in separate piles, which I did when my kids were younger, allows each person to select their own choice of meat and vegetables. This is great served with fresh corn on the cob or all on it's own. Don't forget a chocolate cake or strawberry shortcake for dessert!

My Grandmother and me, picking flowers in her big backyard, under a crepe myrtle tree