When Brant and I want to celebrate a special occasion but our eating-out fund is already empty, I have a list of fancy recipes that we enjoy making together. The process of preparing the meal together is part of our in-home-date-night. Among these are homemade pasta noodles with a homemade spaghetti sauce, grilled steak, or this absolutely delicious broccoli beef stir-fry. Cook’s Illustrated has a 5 star winning recipe here and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Prep all your vegetables first and start some rice before you even think about cooking the meat. Once the cooking part starts, the action doesn’t stop until you sit down to eat. Because each ingredient is only sauteed for a few seconds to a few minutes, smooth execution of this meal requires a bit of fancy footwork in the kitchen. Brant and I have gotten this down to a science and the mere thought of blogging about this means that I want some. Now.
Hint: to make cutting your steak easier, freeze it for 20 minutes before slicing. This will allow it to firm up just enough to make it easy to cut without actually freezing the meat solid.
Source: Cook's Illustrated
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine beef and soy sauce in medium bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 10 minutes or up to 1 hour, stirring once.
- Meanwhile, whisk sherry, chicken broth, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and cornstarch in measuring cup. Combine garlic, ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut oil in small bowl.
- Drain beef and discard liquid. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add half of beef to skillet and break up clumps; cook, without stirring, for 1 minute, then stir and cook until beef is browned around edges, about 30 seconds. Transfer beef to medium bowl. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut oil in skillet, and repeat with remaining beef.
- Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to now-empty skillet; heat until just smoking. Add broccoli and cook 30 seconds; add water, cover pan, and lower heat to medium. Steam broccoli until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes; transfer to paper towel–lined plate.
- Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut oil to skillet; increase heat to high and heat until just smoking. Add bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until spotty brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Clear center of skillet; add garlic and ginger to clearing and cook, mashing mixture with spoon, until fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds, then stir mixture into peppers.
- Return beef and broccoli to skillet and toss to combine. Whisk sauce to recombine, then add to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened and evenly distributed, about 30 seconds.
- Transfer to serving platter and serve over rice.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Chef Dave // May 18, 2010 at 9:49 pm
WOAH! Action shot! Nice.
2 Laetitia // May 19, 2010 at 2:03 am
it looks delicious!
3 Josh // Jan 24, 2011 at 6:12 pm
made this single-handedly…and NAILED it! so tasty and delicious.
4 Jennifer // May 5, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I know this is an old post, but I have been searching for a good beef and broccoli recipe for ages, always being disappointed. I found your recipe through pinterest, just finished my last bite, and have to say, this is the best!!! I used a non stick skillet, so only a fraction of the oil called for, and I added sliced carrot and broccoli stalk when I steamed the florets, and extra green pepper and mushrooms as well. Loved it!!!!