Cooking - A Stir Fry Beef Recipe

Yesterday I wanted to cook something different and nice when I got home. So a little research online brought to me BBC recipes, which has a very good search feature for types of food.

I narrowed the choice down to 3 beef options and it was really between two. Lemon & Orange Beef and Honey Glazed Balsamic Steak. Both were for 1 and didn't contain onions, so double the portions and nothing to worry about removing, result.

So I went with this Stir Fry Beef Recipe. Which I converted to PDF and synced over to my eReader to ensure I got everything in the shop. But I decided that I would buy ingredients for both and cook which ever I didn't make on Friday. Thursday, would be Rachel's turn to cook.

Ingredients
For the sauce
150ml/¼ pint red wine
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
For the stir fry
1 tbsp olive oil
85g/3oz steak, sliced thinly
100g/3½oz green beans, trimmed
½ carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp clear honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sesame seeds

Method
1. For the sauce, heat the wine and vinegar in a small saucepan and simmer until the volume has reduced by half and the mixture has become sticky. Set aside to keep warm.
2. For the stir fry, heat the olive oil in a wok and fry the steak for 2-3 minutes, or until browned.
3. Add the green beans and carrot to the wok and stir fry for two minutes.
4. Add the soy sauce, honey and balsamic vinegar to the wok and stir fry for a further 1-2 minutes, or until the vegetables are just tender.
5. Stir in the sesame seeds.
6. To serve, pile the stir-fry onto a serving plate and drizzle over the red wine and balsamic vinegar sauce.


Doubling the ingredients resulted in extras that I will bring to work for lunch.

I didn't do a great job with the sauce, perhaps I should have added flour to help thicken it. But I definitely had it on too high a heat to begin it, so whilst it reduced that was mostly evaporation.

I also changed the veg ingredients a little. I bought stringed beans instead and added half as much as required and instead added half a head of broccoli instead.

I mixed the sauce mix to add in together and that worked quite well, though I did have to pour the honey in as it didn't want to get added from the glass.
Rachel wanted brown rice so that was the complimenting carb for the meal and that thankfully cooked well, though slightly ahead of the rest as I didn't have full access to the cooker as flatmate was in there first.

But all in all, it was really easy to prepare and cooked quickly and easily. But most important I enjoyed how it tasted.