I hope I got your attention
Or I hope this gorgeous Mongolian Beef with Broccoli got your attention.
Beef always gets my attention... especially Canadian Beef.
My regular readers know I am a proud Canuck through and through....
well...
except for those moments when I'm complaining about the weather.
One thing I never complain about... Canadian Beef.
I happen to live in a place where the quality of beef is sublime.
Beef is my favourite when it comes to meat. We eat it a couple of times a week. Take any family member out to eat and they will order something with beef over any other meat choice. We love the taste and the possibilities for recipes is endless.
Like this amazing Mongolian Beef with Broccoli. I mean just look at it. It's got everything you need on one plate.Â
When I saw Canadian Beef was having a contest where bloggers could win a trip to Eat, Write, Retreat I just knew I had to throw my beefy hat into the ring. I saw the post late so I ran to store and picked up a full beef tenderloin. I love buying them like that then cutting them up on my own. It saves me money and I can customize the thickness of our steaks, size my roast perfectly, grind up the chain for ground beef, and then I use the little pieces for things like stir fry. I cannot even begin to tell you how good tenderloin is in a stir fry. Now if you're working on a strict budget feel free to swap out to a more cost effective cut. For me I buy mine at Costco and by buying in bulk, and cutting it up myself I get some serious beefy bang for my buck.
One of the cool things about the contest is they encourage participants to peek at their youtube channel. I've been considering starting to do my own videos so I'm wicked interested in watching cooking videos these days. I watched a really amazing video on their Quick Canadian Beef Cooking Tips and was happy with the videos I perused. I found a video similar to my recipe on their Easy Cooking with Canadian Beef channel called Stir Fry. I cannot get enough of Canadian Beef or Stir Fry so this was just the inspiration I needed to head into the kitchen and whip up something fun.
Canadian Beef asked us to write about personal stories involving beef. Here's a quote from Canadian Beef on their site, "treasured beef memory, share a go-to beef recipe, or even recount a kitchen disaster involving Canadian Beef." Little did they know I would be able to combine all of those elements into one post. The kicker is it wasn't even on purpose.
I was having a busy day, and while I was cooking my animals were driving me batty, the one cat constantly wants fresh water every 30 seconds, the puppy wants to go out every 60 seconds, and the other cat tries to sneak out the door every time I put puppy out, while kitty number 3 tries to trip me on the stairs after I put puppy out. Â So my nerves were working overtime today. I kept mulling over what story I wanted to tell. Should I tell you about the time I was grilling for a party of 40 and almost lost a toe in a freak window accident. Nah, too gory. Should I tell you about the time I almost blew myself and our grill up by forgetting to turn it off before spraying non stick spray on it. Nah, too scary. Should I tell you about the time I...
Oh wait why don't I tell you about what just happened in my kitchen while contemplating kitchen disasters of yore. I had a kitchen disaster in present time. I was mulling, pouring water, opening doors, rescuing escape con-kitties, when the phone rang. It was hubs, asking if I'm busy. No, hubs, not at all, what can I do for you.... hang up and the phone rings again. This time it's B-Dude. Hey B-Dude, nah, not busy at all, wait what was I doing...ah okay, I'm all good, what can I do for you. I hang up, pour more water, open the door, coral the kitty while leap frogging the other one. Then mini-me texts, I reply, she tests back, I reply, she texts back, and this goes on and on. Meanwhile I realize my beef is almost done. So I turn around to grab the broccoli I had stir fried moments before. It's nowhere to be found. Kid you not. Cannot find it any where. I scour the kitchen, the path to the door, the shelf in the fridge near the water. Nope. No broccoli. I'm standing there scratching my head, that's what us Canucks do in a moment of sheer confusion. Then I think "no way, I could not have" when I see the container of broccoli stems on the counter. Well, heck yes I can. Apparently during the phone calls, texts, water pouring, door opening and leap frogging I got confused and dumped out the already cooked perfectly cooked broccoli instead of the bad bits ...in the garbage. I'm not going to lie, I thought about pulling it out and using it any way. I checked the fridge for more broccoli, but no luck. This meant I had to go out in the cold, rainy Canuck weather to get more broccoli. So I bundled up, poured more water, opened the door, leap frogged a cat and ran to the store. So moral of the story:
- always keep extra broccoli on hand
- use a trough that refills itself for your crazy cats
- get a puppy door
- practice makes perfect when it comes to leap-frog
- and always have lots of Canadian Beef on hand!
Mongolian Beef with Broccoli
Ingredients
For the rice:
- 4 cups of water
- 2 tablespoons of water
- ½ to 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 cups of basmati rice
For the Mongolian Beef:
- 3 tablespoons mongolian stir fry sauce if you can find it use soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon potato starch or corn starch
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ pounds of beef tenderloin cut into small strips
- 2 cups of broccoli cut into pieces
- ½ cup red onion cut into thin strips
- ½ cup sweet onion cut into thin strips
- olive oil for pan
Instructions
For the rice:
- In a medium saucepan bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
- While that is happening soak your basmati rice in water inside a bowl.
- Once the water boils, pop in 2 heaping tablespoons of butter and salt.
- Stir until metled.
- Drain the soaked rice, and pour the rice into the saucepan. Allow to come back to a boil briefly.
- Turn down to a simmer, pop the lid on and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat, fluff, pop lid back on and allow to sit with no heat on it for another 10 mintues.
- Fluff really well with a fork and your good to go.
- I!For the Mongolian Beef:
- n a mixing bowl whisk together the mongolian sauce, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, potato starch, ginger and salt. Set aside.
- In a large wok cook your broccoli first. Use about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil, cook over medium high heat for about 5 to 8 minutes depending how soft or crisp you like your broccoli. I like mine soft.
- Remove the broccoli and set aside.
- Now in the same wok use a little more olive oil, bring to a glisten, then pop in your tenderloin and onions. Cook over medium high heat until cooked through.I like mine well done so it took about 5 or 6 minutes max.
- Once the steak is done pour in the sauce and stir well. Then add the broccoli back in and stir some more to evenly coat and thicken.
- If you want it saucier double the sauce ingredients.
- If you find it getting too thick add some water.
- If you find it getting dry at any point during cooking add more olive oil.
- It goes great over basmati rice.
- Serve with a big old I Love Canadian Beef smile!
Notes
Now get in the kitchen and get your Canadian Beef on people! Thanks to Canadian Beef for an awesome opportunity. As you can see I definitely need help with run on sentences.
*smiles sheepishly*
Toodles and smoochies! xx
john@kitchenriffs
Good recipe, better story. Cats do take a particular joy in tripping one, don't they? 😉 My own question is, can I make this if I don't have Canadian beef? Or do I need to make a trip just to get it? 😉 Fun post - thanks.
DB-The Foodie Stuntman
What? No Meyer lemons? HA!
Carolyn
Oh yay, I hope you win, Kim!!! And I love Canadian beef too, even though I am now south of the border. Heck, I was raised on a beef cattle farm just outside of Toronto!
Isabelle @ Crumb
Any excuse to buy beef and make delicious stir fry is a good excuse, as far as I'm concerned. 🙂
PS: Good luck!!! I was one of the lucky winners a couple of years ago, and I had a blast. First off, Eat Write Retreat is a fabulous conference. Secondly, you'll get to hang out if all sorts of awesome bloggers (I hear a certain miss Kelly Bakes will be volunteering). And thirdly, it's a fabulous conference.
PPS: And here I thought I was prone to distraction in the kitchen. I think you win the ADD trophy! 🙂
Susan
I love this! You are superwoman! Also you need to get picked because I'm going to be at EWR and I want to meet you in person!
Ramona
You certainly have my attention. I love Chinese dishes... and my hubby would kiss you for this one. I don't cook that much beef at home...and he misses it. He always orders beef when we are out. If I made this for him at home... he may do a cartwheel. 🙂 I may have to freak him out and do it now. 🙂
Colette@JFF!
"...the place where I licked the plate"
You crack me UP!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
No Canadian beef here but Australian beef would definitely be a close second. When I moved to Australia I brought a couple of sets of steak knives and my husband said, "What are those?" I've never used them. Never needed to.
Sounds like you had a busy day but you ended it with good news and a great dinner 🙂
Choc Chip Uru
My friend you are cooking legend - how could you possibly not get picked?!
😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
suzanne Perazzini
Wow! You don't need another set of kids with those animals. I would have locked them all up with each and let them box it out.
Broccoli in the bin? Would a re-sterilization have done the job or were they ground down hard in the bin with nasty stuff?
Love the look of that beef, all glossy and succulent. Delicious.
Anna @ hiddenponies
I saw this opportunity too late to get my act together - your recipe and story would've beat mine anyway 🙂 Looks delicious!
Chris Harris
This one has me drooling!
Ane
I enjoyed your post. I am Polynesian and I love Beef! I haven't tried Canadian beef--but maybe I will in the future. But regardless, I love beef and broccoli. Aloha!
Kim Beaulieu
Aloha Ane. I love Polynesian food. We were lucky to have visited Hawaii on our honeymoon and I just fell in love with the place, the people, the food. Our goal is to head back there next year and bring our kids. They've never been and my daughter has a Hawaiian name so it'll be cool for her to see what inspired it. Thanks for visiting. xx
Angie | Big Bear's Wife
Love the story haha, I'm sorry you had a rough day though, but it looks like you won in the end with this yummy dish!
Michele @ Flavor Mosaic
This looks delicious! I'm pinning this to try later.
Penny
Tried this recipe and it has become one of our favourite meals! Thanks for sharing!