Rosie Stir Fries. Orange Beef And Broccoli.

I love a good stir fry

and the Hawthornes haven't had this for a while.

For a late lunch,

I'm making an orange-laced beef and vegetable stir fry.

And I have homemade egg rolls.

Oh, look!

I had a package of top sirloin.

.74 pounds.

On sale.  As always.

I put the meat into the freezer for about 45 minutes.

Makes for good, paper thin slices.

Take a one-inch cube of frozen ginger,

nuke it for 25 seconds,

and garlic press it into the meat.

Zest and juice an orange.

Add two tablespoons of soy sauce

and mix well.

Cover and let marinate in the fridge.

Here are the fixin's:

Marinated meat.

Sliced carrot, broccoli, celery, and onion.

Heat peanut oil over high heat in wok.

Add in the carrots, celery, onions, and broccoli.

After one minute,

pour in about 1/2 cup water to steam the vegetables.

Cook one minute.

High heat.

Stir and Fry

over High Heat.

 Transfer to bowl, cover, and let it keep cookin' on.

Clean out wok.

Add oil.

Drop in marinated meat in batches.

Do not over-wok (crowd the pan).

Stir and fry.

Batches at a time.

One of my secrets:

I sprinkle sugar over the meat

to help it sear and caramelize.

Maillard reaction.

Add the vegetables back into the hot wok.

Pour in a corn starch slurry

(2 TB cornstarch mixed with 2 TB cold water.)

down the side of the wok.

Keep it HOT!

Move it around.

Add in about a cup of beef stock.

Cook.

Heat.

Thicken.

Orange Beef!

Rosie Stir Fries.

You know the Hawthornes love a good stir

and, like I've said,

if I want one, I have to do it myself.

I found sirloin kabobs on sale.

I don't think I ever pay full price for meat.

If you scrounge around,

you can find some bargains.
The better ones, I have found,
 are at the Nags Head Food Lion.

Kabobs, of course, are too big for a stir fry.

Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces.

I marinated the meat in my homemade yakitori sauce

while I prepared my vegetables.

If you don't want to make your own

(You should.),

use a store bought ponzu sauce,

or teriyaki sauce, or soy sauce.

About yakitori sauce:

"Yaki" is the Japanese word for "grilled"

and "tori" is the word for "bird/chicken."

It's easy to make

using easy-to-find ingredients -

saki, mirin, soy sauce, tamari sauce,

sugar, garlic, ginger, and roasted chicken leg bones.

And a good homemade yakitori sauce
(recipe at link above)

is richer, thicker, and more flavorful

than any store-bought sauces.

Plus it keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

Some yakitori chefs keep adding ingredients

to their pot of sauce,

keeping an ongoing sauce,

which produces a particularly rich and flavorful sauce.

A lot of chefs dip their skewered food

directly into the pot of sauce,

rather than brushing it on,

so the sauce accumulates additional flavor 

from the hot chicken juices.

When stir frying,

always have your ingredients prepared and ready to go.

I have:

marinated sirloin

broccoli, small florets

carrots, peeled and crinkly cut

celery, sliced on the diagonal

green pepper, diced

onion, wedged

garlic, thinly sliced

Have your wok over high heat

and add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil.

Time:  1:53

Add in broccoli and carrots.

Time:  1:54

Add in celery, pepper, and onion.

 Time:  1:55
Pour a little water down the side of the wok.
The steam helps cook the vegetables.

Time:  1:56.
Transfer vegetables to a bowl and cover.

Time:  1:58.

Reheat wok over high heat and add a little peanut oil.

Add in meat and garlic.

Time:  1:59
Add vegetables back in.

Time:  1:59.
Pour in a cornstarch slurry.
2 TB cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water.

Add about 1/2 cup beef stock.
Stir fry until thickened.

Remove from heat and serve.

Enjoy!

Rosie Stir Fries.

  Rosie is making a quick stir fry for lunch today.
I love a good stir fry.
It's an excellent utilization of resources.

And when I say quick stir fry,
I mean quick.

We'd found some Denver steak 

marked way down at Food Lion,

so that's our meat for the stir fry.

Mr. Hawthorne thinly sliced the meat

and marinated it in

2 TB each soy sauce and rice vinegar
 with a pinch of sugar

and a tablespoon or so of cornstarch.

As for the rest of the ingredients,

I have sliced garlic and ginger,

snow peas, carrots, celery, 

mushrooms, and onions.
After the fact, I found some peanuts
which we threw in at the last minute.

Have everything ready and within reach.

When one is stir frying,

one cannot stop in the middle to look for an ingredient.

Have a bowl ready to put your cooked ingredients in

and have a plate at hand to cover it.

First, I'll stir fry all the vegetables in one swoop,

pour them into the bowl and cover it.

Then I'll reheat the wok to cook the meat

which I'll be doing in batches.

I keep everything waiting in the bowl,

until the last batch of meat is cooked,

then I add everything back to the wok

and pour a cornstarch slurry down the side of the wok

stirring to thicken and coat.

 Heat your wok over high heat.

Add in a tablespoon of peanut oil and let it heat,

swirling it around in the pan.

When it's hothothot, 

add in 1/3 of the garlic and ginger

and the vegetables,

stirring constantly.

Time: 1:52

 I like to add in a pinch of sugar

and a few grinds of salt.

Brings the flavors out.

 A minute later,

I poured in a few tablespoons of water

down the side of the wok

and let the vegetables steam for a few seconds,
until the water evaporated.

I turned the vegetables into a bowl and covered.

 Let the wok reheat and add 2 TB peanut oil.

When it's hothothot,

add in 1/2 the ginger and garlic

and 1/2 the meat. 

Time:  1:53

 Stir fry about 2 minutes.

Turn meat into bowl with vegetables and cover.

Time:  1:55

Reheat wok and peanut oil.

Add remaining ginger and garlic

and the rest of the meat.

  Time:  1:57

 Time:  1:59

 Return the bowl contents to the wok.

Time:  1:59

 Pour a cornstarch slurry down the side of the wok.

2 TB cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup beef broth

Time:  1:59

 Keep stirring until sauce thickens and coats.

Throw in a handful of roasted peanuts.

Time:  2:00

And we have lunch!

 Steamy.

8 minutes of active work.
And about that long to prep everything.

Why go out and eat when you can cook this in 16 minutes?