Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I bought beef.  Woohoo!  I don't buy beef that much anymore because responsibly raised beef is pretty expensive.  But I miss it. Nothing can replace its savoriness. I do love beef.

Feeling a little fatigued from racking my brain for vegetarian recipes and a few unhappy results in the last few weeks, I developed a hankering for beef stir-fry.  Relatively quick and oh so delicious.  Soy sauce and beef? The umami abounds.

I am boring myself.  Let's move onto the recipe. 

Adapted from Epicurious

For the sauce:

• 1 TBS cornstarch
• 1 1/2 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS black bean paste (optional)
• 1 TBS medium-dry Sherry or rice wine
• 1/4 cup chicken or beef stock or water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp sesame oil

For the beef:

• 3/4 pound sirloin, cut against grain into 1/4" strips
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil 

For the other shtuff:

• 4 TBS vegetable, safflower or peanut oil (something that can handle high heat) 
• 1 TBS minced garlic
• 1 TBS minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 1 lb broccoli, head cut into florets; stems peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks
• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced into 1/4" half-moons

Mix together sauce ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

Mix beef with soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil.  Let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature, or up to about 45 minutes in the fridge.

Heat 2 TBS oil in large skillet or wok over high heat.  Add marinated beef with juices and cook, stirring, just until no longer pink, about 1-2 minutes (you can do this in batches, which I didn't).  Remove beef with slotted spoon to a bowl or plate.  Or in my case, a pig bowl.

A pig bowl with a missing ear, that is.

Sad.

Heat 1 TBS oil in pan.  Add in sliced onion, and cook until crisp tender, about 4 minutes.

Remove onion with tongs or slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside.

No pig bowl for you.

Heat remaining 1 TBS oil in pan.  Add ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.

These are going to cook very quickly--better to err on the lesser side, about 30 seconds.

Add in the broccoli, stir to coat.

Pour in about 1/3 cup water and lower heat.  Cover pan and let broccoli cook until just crisp tender, about 2 minutes.  I don't have a cover for my skillet, so I improvised.

Stir sauce mixture that had been set aside to incorporate the cornstarch again, which will have settled by now.  Pour into pan.  Let sauce come to a gentle boil to cook the cornstarch.

Toss in beef with any juices, and onion.  Serve over rice.

Here again I go with my lovely Tupperware presentation. 

Ta-da!