Tuesday: Saucy Beef Lo Mein

This is one of my favourite Chinese dishes, but I would guess that it is about as authentic as my French accent. As in, not very much. For one thing I've never been able to find lo mein noodles and I've substituted green beans instead of bean sprouts because it occurred to me that I have lots of one and none of the other. You guess which is which!!

You will need:



For the marinade:

1 ½ lb flank steak

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (can be hard to find, look for generic supermarket brands)

1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar

4 garlic cloves, pressed

For the sauce:

1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 c water

2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp dark sesame oil (I keep it in the fridge between uses because it can be a long time from one to the next)

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

16 oz (2 c) fat-free low-sodium chicken broth

And the rest:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided (means don't use it all the first time)

2 c green onions, cut into one-inch pieces

3 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced. You can also grate if you have a teeny tiny grater

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 c green beans, fresh, cut into one-inch pieces

12 oz wide lo mein noodles (have never ever found) OR 12 oz whole wheat fettucine. That’s about two small packages – ish

This recipe serves 8, so I am going to halve everything. If I do the whole thing, I have to use my biggest frying pan, and I don't know how that will work on my new-ish gas stove. Sounds messy. But yummy! I have found that this meal freezes well, so go ahead and make it all, serve yourself for a fortnight.

I tend to do all of my prep in advance, partly because I am the ARC, but also for expediency. Prepping during nap-time, when 2/3 of my hooligans are sleeping is WAY easier than doing it while mediating lego disputes. In this case, you will want to do it early anyway, because the steak will need to be marinated for an hour. Say you want to eat at 5 (because you are a senior, my MIL or my husband); throw the flank steak into the freezer at 2:30, start the marinade at 3, and go from there.

Here is the vegetable prep:

Washed, trimmed green onions being cut into 1 inch pieces

Washed, trimmed green beans ditto

Ginger!

Peeled and minced ginger

Smashing the garlic - one good way to quickly get rid of the skin

El Smusho

And minced

Put all the marinade ingredients into a large ziploc baggie, swish around. Slice the steak diagonally against the grain and throw in. Flank steak is easy to cut against the grain because it has all these convenient lines across the top. Cut across the grain. If you find a piece is too long, cut it in half. You want the slices to be thin as well; toss the steak in the freezer for 30 minutes before cutting and you will get the firmness you need. Use a sharp knife as well and Bob will be your uncle. Squeeze out all the air and put it in the fridge, turning periodically.

Um, trim that fat too

Next, prepare the sauce by whisking all the ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl or large measuring cup. A cup is awesome because of the whole pourability thing but anything big and round will work

Looks gross but smells soooo yummy because of the sesame oil 

Once you are ready to get going, say around 4:30, start cooking the noodles and lay out your prepped food:

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a large (LARGE) non-stick pan, about medium-high. Take the steak out of the bag and discard the marinade. Cook the steak until it loses most of it's pink; 6 or 7 minutes. 

Doesn't really look like I got rid of ALL of the marinade

Remove the steak and juices; wipe out the pan. Man, only because it is non-stick. Don't ever wipe out the pan if it's not non-stick. That meat carmellization is all flavour, baby. Heat the rest of the oil, all 1 1/2 tsp of it, add onions, ginger and last two garlic cloves, cook for 1 minute. 

The ginger will be the one bouncing up at you

If your pan is too hot, the ginger will jump around and make a big mess, but your kitchen will smell amazing. Keep an eye on the heat. Stir in your re-whisked sauce and your green beans, bring to a boil. 

So it's not a pretty meal, by the way

Cook for a minute; add in the steak and noodles, stir until everything is warmed through.

Enjoy!

One last thing; an equipment note. I used 4 knives for this meal. I probably could have used fewer, but these are what I have, so why not use them?

From left to right: 8" chef's knife, 8" slicer, 7" Santoku, 3 1/2" paring knife. I use the Santoku for everyday vegetable prep, including all veggies here except the garlic. Wait, is garlic a vegetable or a root? ANYway, I used the chef's for garlic because I wanted a good wide surface for smashing and I don't like the way the sticky garlic sticks to the Santoku's divots. I used the long slicer for the meat, but I would have used a boning one if mine wasn't so dull. Last of all, I used the paring knife to peel the ginger.