Beef & Broccoli

Tonight, I made a fan favorite in our home- beef & broccoli. 

This recipe is courtesy of Cassie Yeung, my absolute favorite TikTok chef. Seriously, I get a lot of my ideas from her. I put my own spin on it as you do, but the credit definitely goes to her. 

I had stir fry, not flank steak which is ideal- although I was grateful not to have to cut it up- and marinated it in cornstarch, baking soda, soy sauce, hoisin, oil and garlic. Ideally (aka the word of the day) I would've used freshly minced ginger and freshly minced garlic, but I had neither fresh ginger nor the patience to mince garlic. 

As the beef marinated, I chopped 2 heads of fresh garlic and started on my rice. I'm awful at cooking rice but miraculously found a recipe that even I couldn't ruin- 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cup of water and about a tablespoon of olive oil, mixed and brought to a boil then simmered for 15 minutes covered. Once that was done, I let it sit for 10 minutes off the heat. Somehow not a single grain of rice stuck to the pan and was cooked PERFECTLY.

Amidst the other preparation, I threw together a quick sauce with about 1 1/2 cups of beef broth, 1 tbsp of hoisin, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, a dash of dark soy, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 2 tbsp of brown sugar and white pepper to taste. Btw, white pepper is something I discovered while learning this recipe and is so nice in a lot of dishes, including mashed potatoes. 

Next, I heated a pan to medium high then added oil once it was nice and warm and threw in the meat, flattening it as much as possible. Once it started to get browned and slightly curled up on the sides, it was ready to quickly sauté and remove from the heat. This is the step that nearly deterred me from this recipe the first time I tried it: I overcooked the beef. It's a mindset that took me a while to overcome, but beef won't hurt you like chicken will if it's still a little red. Here is how the beef should look: 

I know, not cute. I actually was worried that this was a little overcooked, but in the end it was just fine. Basically, the beef shouldn't be cooked completely through as it will finish cooking in the sauce later.

Once I removed the beef from the pan, I added some more oil and minced garlic/ginger, then deglazed with a little shaoxing wine. I'll admit, before I was able to find shaoxing wine I would just deglaze with any red wine I had on hand (it was still delicious). Then, I added the broccoli. 

I tossed the broccoli in the oil for a moment then covered the pan and allowed it to cook for a couple minutes more. I forgot to take a picture, but you will absolutely know when it's done because the broccoli will be 3 shades brighter. Really. I didn't believe it at first, but it was an entirely different color. I then added my sauce and brought it to a boil.

After adding a cornstarch slurry and allowing it to thicken up, I added the beef back in and cooked for a minute or two more. Throw the beef and broccoli on top of a bed of white rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, and you've got a simple and DELICIOUS weeknight meal. Always a 9/10.