I thought I posted this, but I can’t find it on here anywhere.  Matt loves this dish, and it is quite delicious, especially with rice.  I suggested it for dinner tonight and the response was, “OHHH, YEAH!”

Mongolian Beef
From Noshings

Sauce:
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. low sodium soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. flank steak or cube steak, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 T canola oil
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 large green onions, sliced
2 c. broccoli, chopped and cooked until crisp tender
Rice, for serving

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside for sauce.  Blot meat dry with a paper towel.  Evenly coat meat with cornstarch.  In a large skillet, saute the meat in oil over medium-high heat until cooked through.  Remove from skillet and set aside.  (This may need to be done in batches so that meat sits in a single layer in the pan.)

In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon oil if needed, and add the garlic, green onions and ginger.  Saute for 1 minute.  Add the sauce to the pan and cook until the sauce begins to boil and sugar is dissolved.  Add meat and broccoli and cook until sauce thickens, 3-5 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Serves 3.

Matt declared this a top-10 recipe.  I didn’t tell him until the next day that it had fish sauce in it.  I think he’ll still eat it!  I also liked this recipe because it provides a recipe for cooking rice if you don’t have leftover rice or forgot to make it the day before.

Fried Rice, Indonesian-Style
Cook’s Illustrated, May/June 2011

5 green or red Thai chilies, stemmed (I used one serrano pepper, seeds and all, and it was spicy.  Jalapenos will work too.)
7 large shallots, peeled (I didn’t use 7, maybe more like 4)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp light or mild molasses (I just used Grandma’s – I didn’t realize there was such a thing as light molasses)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
Table salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 recipe Faux Leftover Rice (recipe follows)
12 ounces shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed, cut into 1″ pieces
4 large scallions, sliced thin
2 limes, cut into wedges

1. Pulse chilies, 4 shallots, and garlic in food processor until coarse paste is formed, about fifteen 1-second pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.  Transfer mixture to small bowl and set aside.  In second small bowl, stir together brown sugar, molasses, soy sauce, fish sauce, and 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of salt.  (I omitted this, and had to add salt later.  Guess I forgot I was working with a finely-tuned Cooks Illustrated recipe.)  Whisk eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in medium bowl.

2. Thinly slice remaining 3 shallots and place in12-inch nonstick skillet with oil.  Fry over medium heat, stirring constantly, until shallots are golden and crisp, about 6-10 minutes.  Using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper towel-lined plate and season with salt to taste.  Pour off oil and reserve.  Wipe out skillet with paper towels.

3. Heat 1 teaspoon reserved oil in now-empty skillet, gently tilting pan to evenly coat bottom.  Cover and cook until bottom of omelet is spotty golden brown and top is just set, about 1 and 1/2 minutes.  Slide omelet onto cutting board and gently roll up into tight log.  Using sharp knife, cut log crosswise into 1-inch segments (leaving segments rolled).  Repeat with another teaspoon reserved oil and remaining egg.

4.  Remove rice from refrigerator and break up any large clumps with fingers.  Heat 3 tablespoons reserved oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until just shimmering.  Add chile mixture and cook until mixture turns golden, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add shrimp, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring constantly, until exterior of shrimp is just opaque, about 2 minutes.  Push shrimp to sides of skillet to clear center; stir molasses mixture to recombine, and pour into center of skillet.  When molasses mixture bubbles, add rice and cook, stirring and folding constantly, until shrimp is cooked, rice is heated through and mixture is evenly coated, about 3 minutes.  Stir in scallions, remove from heat, and transfer to serving platter.  Garnish with egg segments, fried shallots, and lime wedges; serve immediately.

 

Faux Leftover Rice

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups jasmine or long-grain white rice, rinsed
2 2/3 cup water

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering.  Add rice and stir to coat grains with oil, about 30 seconds.  Add water, increase heat to high, and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until all liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes.  Off heat, remove lid and place clean kitchen towel folded in half over saucepan; replace lid.  Let stand until rice is just tender, about 8 minutes.  Spread cooked rice onto rimmed baking sheet, set on wire rack, and cool 10 minutes.  Transfer to refrigerator and chill for 20 minutes.

Thought I would post this one because it’s one that we’ve made multiple times, usually when Matt is grilling steaks.  They are so good.  The recipe comes from one of my very favorite cooking blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  If you don’t read this website, please start immediately.  I’ve made a few different recipes from her site, and I’ve never been disappointed.  About this recipe, I have used red potatoes, but more often I’ve used Russets and just cut them into wedges.  Also, I thought this recipe had red wine in it, and I’ve made them with red wine before, and I told Matt tonight that we needed to open a bottle to make the potatoes.  Then I looked and it doesn’t actually call for it.  Not sure what this says about me, but go ahead and add a splash anyway, and enjoy the rest of the bottle! 🙂

Mustard-Roasted Potatoes

From Smitten Kitchen

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick or 1/2 ounce) butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3 pounds 1- to 1 1/2-inch-diameter mixed unpeeled red-skinned and white-skinned potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch-wide wedges

Position 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Spray 2 large rimmed baking sheets with nonstick spray. Whisk mustard, olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, lemon peel, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add potatoes; sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and toss to coat. Divide potatoes between prepared baking sheets, leaving any excess mustard mixture behind in bowl. Spread potatoes in single layer. Roast potatoes 20 minutes. Reverse baking sheets and roast until potatoes are crusty outside and tender inside, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes longer.

Transfer potatoes to serving bowl.

Do ahead: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheets at room temperature. Rewarm potatoes in 425°F oven 10 minutes.

Make Your Man Happy, Meal 3

I’ve made three meals that have gone into the Matthew Parker “Chicken Parmesan Hall of Fame.” Chicken Parmesan is the first, obviously. Tortellini Soup was the second, and last night’s was the third.

Matt had suggested teriyaki chicken, so I got to work. I found this recipe from my ex-boyfriend Tyler Florence. (We had a long relationship in the early days of Food Network, but we had to part ways when he started shilling for Applebee’s.) Anyway, this teriyaki sauce served as a great marinade, and I saved half, added a little more orange juice, and cooked it down to more of a glaze. My only change might be to use less soy sauce because it was bit salty for the Wilhelm palate. I think the chicken was in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes, covered for half the time, with the marinade in the dish to keep in moist.

Fried rice was the side dish, modified from the blog Steamy Kitchen. I didn’t use the crab or the sausage, and just started by cooking the eggs, then adding ginger, oil, frying the onions, then rice, then veggies. It has fish sauce in it, but don’t tell Matt! Using day-old rice was the key here! It was great, and super easy.

Here are the recipes! Enjoy!

Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
* 2 oranges, juiced
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and minced
* 1/2 cup scallion, chopped
* 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 1 hour. May also be used as a great marinade for chicken, shrimp or beef.

Fried Rice
1 can crab (6-8oz)
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (grate on rasp grater)
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt & Pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
3 cups cooked rice, break up the chunks
2 stalks green onions minced
1/2 cup frozen vegetable mixture (peas/corn/carrot) – defrosted for 15 min
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 cup diced Chinese sausage
1 teasp cooking wine

1. Marinate the Crab: Drain all the water from the can of crab meat. Marinate the grated fresh ginger, cooking wine, sesame oil.

2. Fry Sausage, Crab & Eggs: Heat up your wok to medium-high. Add the Chinese sausage to the wok, turn the heat down to med-low. Cook until the sausage releases its fat – about 5 minutes. Remove sausage, leaving as much oil in wok as possible. Turn heat to med-high. Add eggs to wok. Add crab to wok. Fry the mixture gently until eggs cooked through but still very soft. Remove, leaving as much oil in wok as possible.

3. Fry Rice: You should have about 1T of oil in the wok. If not, add cooking oil to the wok. Turn heat to high. Once the wok is very, very hot, add green onions, stir fry for 15 seconds. Add the rice – breaking up as many chunks at possible. Let the rice heat up in the wok. Add vegetables. Stir-fry until all is hot. Add fish sauce, soy, salt & pepper Add the Chinese sausage, egg/crab mixture. Stir fry until all ingredients are combined and steaming hot.

I made these last weekend, and they really are the perfect roasted potatoes.  There’s nothing fancy about them, (this is more a technique than anything else), and I’m sure you can add a thousand different things to them to suit your tastes.  But these came out crunchy and delicious!

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

From Chocolate and Zucchini

– 2 1/2 pound potatoes (waxy or floury — both types will work equally well)
– 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
– kosher salt

Serves 4 generously.

Preheat the oven to 410°F.

If your potatoes are smooth-skinned, scrub them well and peel them in alternative stripes so that strips of skin remain. If, on the other hand, the skin of your potatoes is rugged and grainy, peel it off completely (no need to scrub) then rinse the potatoes well in cold water.

Cut the potatoes into even chunks, about the size of a bite. Place them in a saucepan large enough to accommodate them, cover with cold water, and add a teaspoon coarse salt. Set over high heat, cover, bring to a low boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

As soon as the water boils, pour the fat into a rimmed baking sheet, and place the sheet in the oven, so the fat and baking sheet will heat up.

After the 5 minutes of boiling, drain the potatoes — they will not be cooked at that point — and return them to the saucepan. Place a lid on the saucepan. Holding the lid firmly shut with both hands (the saucepan will be hot, so wear oven mitts or use dish towels), shake the saucepan vigorously for a few seconds, until the surface of the potato chunks is fuzzy; this will help the formation of a crust.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, pour the potatoes onto the sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and stir well to coat with the fat.

Return to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes halfway through, until cooked through (when you insert the tip of a knife in one of the pieces, it should meet no resistance), crusty, and golden.

Serve immediately.