Day 5

We still had a huge bag of broccoli and some mushrooms that had to be used immediately.  The mushrooms were even a little soggy.  I rinsed them well and sautéed them in olive oil and they were fine!  I unearthed a steak and some frozen Chinese noodles yesterday in my freezer inventory.  So broccoli beef was on the menu.  I know it's not typical to add noodles to broccoli beef, but this recipe was bomb!  I just did a Pinterest search for broccoli beef with noodles and found this one here.  

Most people who knew me back in the day know I worked at a Chinese restaurant in high school called The Mandarin.  I was a hostess, most of the waitresses were Japanese, and I learned a lot about Chinese and Japanese food working there.  Let me tell you this sauce was every bit as good as Mr. Wong's recipe!  It is the best one I have found so far taste wise.  This sauce could be used as a base sauce for a lot of different stir fry dishes.  

I made some modifications to the recipe I found on damndelicious.net: 

1/2 of a sirloin or London broil partially frozen and sliced thin and cut into 1/2 inch strips approx 8 oz)

16 oz broccoli florets

1/2 small onion diced

8 oz sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic pressed

1Tbsp grated fresh ginger root

1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

1Tbsp brown sugar

1Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp of oyster sauce 

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or dash of cayenne

1/4 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp of cornstarch 

1/2 cup of water  

1 7 oz pkg udon noodles cooked and drained (or spaghetti will work too) 

Slice beef into thinnest strips possible and cut each strip into 1/2 inch strips.  This works best if meat is still half frozen. Set aside.  

Prepare sauce:  mix soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic, pepper, red pepper flakes, sesame oil, cornstarch and brown sugar and whisk together in a bowl.  Set aside.  

Brown meat in olive oil until almost done, remove from pan and set aside.  Add broccoli mushrooms and onion, stir fry on hi 5 minutes until hot and partially cooked.  Add meat back into pan, add noodles and sauce.  Stir fry until mixed thoroughly and serve immediately.  

Breakfast was a bacon and egg English muffin and lunch was leftover potage de garbanzos.  I love making big pots of soup and using the leftovers for lunch the next day.