Beef. It's what's for dinner.

Posted by Amy Baranski

When it comes to cooking, my husband and I have very different styles in the kitchen. Bob's more the clean-as-you-go type, and I'm the dirty-almost-every-dish-in-the-kitchen type. I can get really inspired by a dirty kitchen. My husband on the other hand is practically repelled by one.

So in exchange for taking on the challenge this month of letting me show him some things in the kitchen, I'm making a promise to keep the kitchen sparkling. Today I scrubbed down the counters, washed the dishes, scoured the sink, and the stove top.

This evening I made a great little easy recipe of beef and broccoli. This is one of my go-to dishes when I don't have a lot of time or when I'm cooking just for one. I define a go-to dish as something delicious, healthy, easy, and affordable, requiring basic ingredients that are typically on hand. I'm hoping that after this month Bob and I will have an equal amount of go-to dishes memorized under our belts and ready to pull out of hat when we're both tired and exhausted from adjusting to life with the new one. (Life with the new one!!! I can hardly wait!!)

Here's the recipe for the dish I made tonight. It's not from any book, or site, it's just kind of made up.

Ingredients: 

Small crown of broccoli.
1 Steak
4-6 crimini mushrooms (quartered)
Somen noodels
Tamari
Sesame oil
Spicy Sesame oil (optional)
Fish oil (optional)
Olive oil
Sesame seeds

Directions:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Boil some water.
• Slice the steak into 1/8 inch pieces (I only used 1/2 to 1/3 of the steak, save the rest for later).
• Place steak in a bowl with 1-2 Tbs Tamari and 1/2 Tb olive oil. Let marinate for 3-5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cut and separate the broccoli crown florets. Cut the broccoli stalk and trim off the skin.
• Put the broccoli onto a roasting pan (a cookie sheet will do). Drizzle lightly with olive oil, toss to distribute oil over the broccoli, sprinkle with salt. Pop this into the oven for about 7 minutes. (More time if your broccoli pieces are larger, less time if your broccoli pieces are smaller).
• Heat a pan with a little oil. Put the criminis in. Don't overcrowd. Sprinkle with a little salt. 
• Heat another pan (I used a grill pan) and brown the steak strips.
• Toss the Somen noodles in the boiling water (these cook in about 3 minutes). Take out and strain, place in bowl, drizzle with small amounts of sesame oil + spicy sesame oil + fish oil (if desired). I even tossed in a few drops of rice vinegar for some tang.
• When the broccoli is done take it out of the oven. Make sure the steak is cooked through. 
• Place mushrooms, broccoli and steak on top of the noodles and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!