Broccoli Beef with Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce

My earliest memory of Chinese food was my mother's mid-century version of Chop Suey, a dish not authentically Asian but certainly exotic compared to our standard family fare. Cans of Chun King noodles and bean sprouts might have been part of the mix... I've never requested her old recipe though it's probably stored in her kitchen, recorded on a 3x5 card in a battered file box.

Early married dining out memories include steaming bowls of Cashew Chicken, Chow Mein and Broccoli Beef served up at various Chinese restaurants around the Eastside. Then we ventured down the hot and spicy road to Szechuan dishes, savoring the flavors of Kung Pao Chicken, Hot and Sour Soup, and the like. Seattle's ever-growing wealth of Asian restaurants beckoned and it didn't take long to branch out and embrace Korean, Japanese, Thai and Pan-Asian Fusion cuisines.  

Today, for no particular reason, that old favorite Broccoli Beef came to mind as I planned the week's menus. Fridge and pantry held the necessary components but an updated recipe was elusive. I adjusted ingredients and combined techniques from a variety of print and on-line sources to come up with the recipe below. 

Success! We enjoyed the dish, though next time I will use less beef and more broccoli, perhaps add a handful of water chestnuts to increase the crunch factor. All in all, the taste compared well with the food memory and it was fun revisiting an old favorite.

  

Beef, Broccoli and Mushroom Stir Fry with Oyster Sauce

Serves 4 

For the beef & marinade:

         1 lb. flank steak or sirloin

         1 Tbs. cornstarch

         1/4 tsp. sugar

         1/8 tsp. baking soda

         2 Tbs. Chinese rice wine 

For the sauce:

         2 Tbs. oyster sauce

         2 Tbs. soy sauce 

         1 tsp. peanut oil (or sesame oil)

         1 tsp. cornstarch

         1/8 tsp. white pepper

         2 Tbs. Chinese rice wine

For the stir fry:

         2 cups small broccoli, florets & thinly sliced stalks

         3 Tbs. peanut oil (or other high-heat cooking oil), separated

         2 garlic cloves, whole but smashed with the side of a knife

         2 slices fresh ginger, smashed with the side of a
  knife

         1 small yellow onion, cut into 1-inch dice

         1 Tbs. Chinese rice wine 
  1 cup mushrooms, quartered or cut in thick slices
 Sesame seeds for topping (optional)

Directions:
Marinate the beef: Slice the beef thinly across the grain into strips 3" x 1/4". Stir together cornstarch, sugar, baking soda and 2 Tbs. water in a medium bowl. Add the beef and stir until coated. Rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Mix the sauce: Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl; mix well and set aside.

Blanch the broccoli: add the broccoli florets and stem pieces to a pan of boiling water and blanch until barely tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, rinse under running cold water until cool; drain again thoroughly. Set aside.

Remove the beef from the bowl, pat dry with paper towels. Heat a large, deep sauté pan over high heat until very hot, add 2 Tbs. of the peanut oil and swirl to coat. Add beef and spread out into a single layer so the pieces don't touch. Stir-fry the first side undisturbed until it's just opaque, about 1 minute; flip and continue to cook until no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Lift the beef with a slotted spoon, place in a sieve placed over a bowl to drain.

Wipe pan with paper towels and reheat over high heat. Add 1 Tbs. oil and swirl to coat. Add garlic and ginger, stir-fry just until light golden brown, 15 to 20 seconds. With slotted spoon, remove garlic and ginger, discard. Add onion and mushrooms to pan, stir-fry until just tender, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in the rice wine and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the pan bottom. When the wine has evaporated, add the sauce, stir and bring to a boil. Immediately add the cooked beef, broccoli and stir-fry until the sauce boils and thickens and the beef is heated through. Transfer to a warmed bowl, top with sesame seeds if using, and serve with rice or noodles.

Stir-Fried Beef with Oranges and Green Beans

After several weeks of indulgent holiday meals and dining out, I craved something simple... a dish with few main ingredients... a one-skillet dish that incorporated fresh, crunchy vegetables... Of course! a stir fry. Quick memory flashback to a favorite, near-forgotten dish, a stir fry recipe from a cookbook that never fails to inspire, Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen. My copy of this 2003 gem is covered with yellow Magic Marker highlights, pencilled notations and a generous spattering of food stains from uber-enthusiastic cooking.

Stir Frying - hmmmm, I've grown quite relaxed about this preparation, ignoring written recipes and working more freeform. Sometimes this approach succeeds and other times, well... not so much. Today I pulled out the Real Kitchen cookbook and worked off the original recipe, exchanging ingredients as necessary but following the printed procedure. Examples: I ground 1 star anise, 5 cloves, 1/8 tsp coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp fennel seed, plus 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a spice grinder to replace the Chinese 5-spice powder missing from my pantry. I used beef chuck already on hand instead of the recommended round steak. Canola oil replaced the specified peanut oil. Balsamic vinegar subbed for Chinese black vinegar. 

The results? Still delicious, and every bit as good as remembered. 
  

Stir-Fried Beef with Oranges, Green Beans and Chiles

Adapted from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen

Serves 4-6

1 egg white

½ tsp hot sesame oil

1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

1 TBS cornstarch

Ground white pepper

1 lbs boneless beef, sliced very thin (slice when semi-frozen)

2 cups oil (I used canola)

1 orange or 2 Mandarins or Clementines, unpeeled, sliced in paper-thin rounds

2 TBS cornstarch, divided

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled & minced or grated

4 fresh garlic cloves, minced

2 green onions, minced

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

¾ lbs fresh green beans, halved and blanched

¼ cup low sodium Chicken Stock

2 TBS low sodium soy sauce

1 TBS balsamic vinegar

1 TBS Mirin (or sugar)

2 TBS toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Marinate the Beef:  

Whisk together the egg white, sesame oil, five spice powder and cornstarch. Add white pepper to season. Toss the beef strips in the marinade to coat thoroughly; refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.

 

Cook the Orange Rounds:  

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat to 350 degrees F. Toss the orange slices with 1-tablespoon of cornstarch. Fry the oranges until crisp and beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a strainer and drain on a plate covered with layered paper-towels.

Finish the Dish:

Bring the oil back up to temperature and stir-fry the beef in small batches for 2 minutes; remove to a paper-towel covered plate to drain. Repeat with the remaining batches of beef.

Carefully pour the hot oil into a heat-proof container. Return ¼ cup oil to the wok and reheat the pan. Stir fry the ginger, garlic, green onions and chiles until fragrant. Add the green beans, season with salt and white pepper (optional).

Mix the chicken stock with the remaining 1-tablespoon of cornstarch and add to the pan; stir in the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and Mirin or sugar. Simmer until the beans are tender and the sauce is thick (3-4 minutes if the beans are very thin and pre-blanched, up to 10 minutes for thicker, raw beans).

Return the beef and orange slices to the pan, toss to coat. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve with steamed rice.