Wosie Woks Wunce Again.

Recently, a new (to me) cut of beef has been appearing at my local Food Lion - flat iron steak. I asked my butcher about it and he said, "Try it. You'll love it. And if you don't, bring it back and get your money back. Better than ribeye." So, I tried it. I did love it. It's tender and very flavorful. Now, I'm wondering where the flat iron cut comes from. I was surprised to see that it's actually from the shoulder of the cow. If you can't find it, ask your butcher for top blade. And if your recipe calls for skirt steak or flank steak, try the flat iron. In case you're interested in the intricacies of this particular cut, please check out this information. While googling flat iron, I came upon this recipe which looks pretty darn good. And also, this recipe, from my dear friend Marilyn, of Foodies Untie, looks like a winner too.

Since there are only 2 of us left in this lovely empty nest, I cut the flat iron in half, freezing one half, and using the other for tonight's stir fry. Mr. Hawthorne is cutting the flat iron half into thin slices, AGAINST the grain, for tender pieces. For easier slicing, you might want to slightly freeze your meat before cutting.

I always like to have ginger on hand, so I keep it frozen. I nuked it for about 20 seconds, and the juices come flowing out.

I added a bit of minced garlic.

Then some Lee & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and Tamari Soy sauce, which is a premium grade soy sauce. I also sprinkled the meat with a bit of sugar which caramelizes nicely when the protein hits the wok. Heh, protein. Yes, I can be pretentious too.

Here are my veggies for the stir fry.

And here are my veggies all nicely prepped. Clockwise from top left, I have fresh corn, snow peas, celery, pepper, minced garlic and ginger, onion, broccoli, and corn.

I usually use a broth that I add to the corn starch to pour into my wok and thicken the mix. Ahhh Ha! Did you just see the light bulb that went on over my head? I added cold water to my corn starch, and then ... ding ding ding ... I added my VEAL STOCK. Like Sandy, I just feel like I'm the smartest thing on the block! But as Mr. Hawthorne always reminds me, "Rosie, it's a short block."

When doing Chinese, or any cuisine for that matter, it's very important to have everything you need within reach - all your tools, all your platters, and especially all your ingredients. There's nothing like being in the middle of frying Ingredient A and you look for Ingredient B and it's NOT there. Have EVERYTHING ready.

I've heated my oil to almost smoking and have added my carrots, broccoli, and celery.

Next, my snow peas and onions go in.

And peppers and corn.

Toss for a few seconds.

Then add in water to steam the veggies just a tad. Transfer to a bowl and cover.

I cleaned out the wok a bit, added some more oil, heated it to almost smoking, then added the beef, a little bit at a time.

In about a minute, add the veggies back to the wok, toss, and pour your corn starch/veal stock mixture (or corn starch/broth mixture) gradually down the side of the pan.

Heat and thicken.

In addition to the regular rice I cooked, we wanted something a little different, so we chose the Sun Luck Maifun Rice Sticks. Caution: Only use a little bit at a time.

Because, as you can see, they kind of explode. Immediately.

Mr. Hawthorne then made a dressing for the rice sticks out of 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, and one TB sugar.

Whisk all ingredients together.

Here's the rice, the stir fry, and the rice sticks with dressing.

I sprinkled toasted sesame seeds over top of the rice sticks and bean sprouts over top of the stir fry.

Well, cannajestellya? This was more than delicious. The heat of the stir fry along with the cool crispness of the bean sprouts

made of a lovely combination of flavors, textures, and temperatures. The veal stock added a little je ne sais quoi to the stir fry - an added depth and intensity of flavor. Now the fried rice sticks. Mr. Hawthorne described them as "crunchy air." The sesame dressing was light and perfectly complemented the rice sticks. It reminded me of eating potato chips. I just couldn't get enough in my mouth at one time. Sorry for that visual, but they were just so very good both texture wise and flavor wise. All in all, an excellent dinner.