UnRecipe: Where's the Beef? With the Broccoli.

When I was at the store, I saw a package of pre-cut, bagged broccoli that was called "Broccoli-Wokly," which made me laugh because I thought of Brock, aka, Mr. Wasabi, and the fact that they used to call him Brock-oly when he was a kid, but then I kind of sighed and shook my head because I thought, how lazy do we have to be to buy pre-cut broccoli? Of all the veggies, it has the least hassle in preparation, plus you're not trimming off much, and it's cheaper than cheap, so buying it prepackaged probably triples the cost. I picked up my supply of plain old crowns of cruciferous goodness and brought them home to make a simple stir-fry with flank steak, which I paired with a little spring salad, courtesy of a farmers market trip.

Getting beefy and eating one's greens - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I hadn't actually had beef broccoli in a long time -- it was another one of those quick weekday meals my mother would prepare, as it's pretty much just that: broccoli, thin slices of beef, a bit of ginger and garlic, and soy sauce thickened with corn starch. It's always a mainstay at fast food/generic Chinese restaurants, swimming in a mysterious sauce and sweating it out under heat lamps all day, waiting for its special purpose as a #3 Lunch Special.  I think for something as simple and nostalgic as beef broccoli stir fry, it's worth more than prepackaged, precut veggie status and grocery store deli counters.

On my last visit to the Asian market, Uwajimaya, I picked up a giant jar of black bean paste, which gives food such a great depth of flavor and you inevitably wind up with more than you know what to do with, so I've been putting it in everything possible. It gave a nice sweetness to the sauce, but not a sugary-sweet flavor, which a lot of fast-food Asian restaurants do with their sauces. Ugh -- isn't that just the worst, where you have some sort of teriyaki dish and it's like having meat with corn syrup? Bleah. I can definitely give a thumb's up to adding black bean paste into sauces for beef, as the flavor is nice and rich, plus it's nice to have around if you're making a barbecue dish and want to give it a bit of an Asian twist. Heaven knows you'll be eager to find ways to use it, as there's no such thing as buying a small jar of the stuff.

Goods from the farmers market - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for the side dish, I made an asparagus salad with some tomatoes and red onion. This was a twist on my mom's warabi salad, which of course uses warabi, baby ferns that are plucked from the rainy lands of Hilo, Hawaii. While we have the rainy lands of Washington State, I was pricing the fiddlehead ferns at the Bellevue Farmers Market and $10 a pound for the cute little swirls was a little steep, so I went on the cheaper side and bought a bunch of thin asparagus for $5. Same idea and actually, the asparagus was pretty close to the same flavor as the warabi. Yeah, yeah,  I know what you're thinking: "Tomatoes aren't in season yet, you fool." The ones I got were clearly hothouse grown, but the vendor had a "clearance bin" of odd-shaped overripe tomatoes, and lord knows I can't resist a sale.

OMG a Recipe: Steak Dinner Sealed With a KISS

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! Does anyone remember that saying? I think I heard it in school from a teacher, before the dreaded PC Police swooped in and oversensitized everything, erasing "Stupid" from the vocabulary. But it was a good mnemonic device to always remind one to stick to the basics, because sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the details. I was cooking with a friend who wanted something really simple to make for an at-home dinner for visiting guests. The KISS-friendly meal resulted in a Marinated Seared Flank Steak, Rosemary Potatoes and Crispy Broccoli.

Meat n' potatoes - what could be simpler? Photo by Wasabi Prime

I'm truly thankful to have friends with a wide variety of interests and hobbies. I'm especially thankful for ones who don't give a crap that I write a food blog, because while they like eating at restaurants and enjoying good meals, they don't do much cooking at home, and it's an excellent realignment of perspective. It's good to work out a recipe with someone who doesn't do much cooking because it's a reminder to slow down, take the time to measure, and keep ingredient lists simple. At the end of the day, cooking feels like work to many, and the only way to encourage people to get cookin' is to make it accessible and relatively effortless. But of course the greatest incentive is tasty nomz!

The thoughts behind the meal were: basic ingredient list, short prep time, and using red meat helps resolve the whole "is it done yet?" issue with cooking, since you can eat it rare. We prepped the things needing the most time first, making a marinade for the flank steak and letting it sit in the refrigerator to soak up the flavor. Potatoes and broccoli were washed and left to dry. An hour before dinnertime, we chopped the potatoes down, tossing in olive oil and seasonings, and let the oven start working on them. Removing the flank steak from the fridge, it was patted dry and seared in a pan until medium rare. While the meat rested, the potatoes were removed and broccoli was seasoned and placed under the broiler to crisp up under the high heat. The steak was thinly-sliced, potatoes were still warm, and the broccoli had a nice smoky char on its florets, creating a simple, quick meal that was good for weeknight time frames as well as serving to guests. If this isn't a KISS-friendly meal for those dreading a turn in the kitchen, I don't know what is!

Marinated Flank Steak
(serves four, if paired w/ sides)

1 flank steak
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 sprigs of rosemary, bruised w/ blunt end of knife (to release oils, but left whole for easy removal)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 tablespoon of sugar
salt and pepper for cooking
canola or vegetable oil for cooking

Put the steak in a large freezer bag and add the soy sauce, bruised rosemary sprigs, oil and sugar. Seal bag and smoosh (sure, that's a technical term) the ingredients up, making sure the marinade is in contact with the meat. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight, if you can. Shift the bag periodically so the marinade can thoroughly coat and soak meat.

When ready to cook, preheat a large skillet on medium high. Remove the steak from the marinade and pat it dry, removing as much of the rosemary leaves as possible -- this will prevent burning. Drizzle some canola oil into the pan, about 1-2 tablespoons, and then salt/pepper both sides of the dry flank steak before placing it into the hot/oiled pan. Let the meat sear for 6-8 minutes on one side, developing a nice caramelized crust before flipping the meat over to do the same on the opposite side. Use a meat thermometer to check the center doneness to your taste. When meat is cooked to your preference, remove from heat, cover with foil and let it rest for at least five minutes, to let juices redistribute themselves before slicing thinly, on the bias (against the grain).

Optional: make a sauce using the same pan that cooked the steak -- all the browned bits on the bottom is flavor! Turn up the burner to a medium-high heat and pour a quarter cup of soy sauce and three quarters cup of water into the pan and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up the bits to incorporate into the sauce. Lower the temperature to medium low and let the sauce reduce to a thickness that will coat the back of a spoon. Add salt/pepper to taste or a bit of sugar, if you want it on the sweeter side. Serve on the side or drizzled over the meat.

Easy Sides: Rosemary Potatoes and Crispy Broccoli
(serves as a side dish for four, if paired w/ main course)

For Potatoes:
4 to 6 medium-sized red skinned potatoes, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary (about 2 or 3 sprigs' worth of leaves)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss chopped potatoes with oil, rosemary, salt and pepper to coat. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and place in oven. Check around the ten minute mark, and if potatoes are starting to brown, use a spatula and turn them over, to ensure even browning. Once the potatoes are fork-tender, about twenty to thirty minutes, remove from oven and cover with foil to keep warm.

For Broccoli:
3 medium sized broccoli crowns, ends removed and cut down into long stalks
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Start broiler and set baking rack about a quarter of the way to the top of the broiler coil -- not right up against coils, just somewhat close. Toss the trimmed and cut broccoli pieces with the oil, salt, and pepper, and place evenly on a baking sheet. Place in oven on the top rack and keep a close eye on the broccoli. It should start turning a bright green and the florets will start to char with a little smoke, but don't set it on fire. Should only take five to seven minutes, if that, to cook the broccoli to a nice, crisp doneness. Remove from the broiler when the color is bright and the florets have a light, smoky char on them. Serve immediately.

Basic flavor - it's magically delicious! Photos by  Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Tough Turkey, Marsala!

Some dishes just aren't meant to be fancy, just quick and easy. That being said, don't be a lazy fool like me and make dumb grocery store choices. For the most part, I think simple meals with a modest list of ingredients can easily become favorites, since they work so well into a weeknight schedule, and chicken or turkey marsala is definitely one that falls into that category, as long as one knows which shortcuts to take and which ones to avoid.

Who you callin' Turkey? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

My usual go-to for finding recipes is Epicurious.com, and they have an ample online library of dishes, old and new. If you wish to follow a more traditional chicken marsala recipe, I'd recommend using one of their recipes, like this one with sage. The version I wound up doing was a bit more truncated than what Bon Appétit had to offer. In general, I recommend doing any dish the traditional way at least once, so you get the full experience of the flavors. And then you can be a harried late-night grocery shopper like me, rushing to grab whatever I could at the last minute.

As mentioned before, this weeknight meal was inspired by the lack of time and planning. I knew the basics for the traditional recipe, but super-simplified things for the sake of getting a meal on the table. I know, I know, food is life, but when you're a part-time food blogger and a full-time cubicle jockey, sometimes something's gotta give so you don't wind up in the drive-thru agreeing to get fries with that. The finished sauce was all marsala wine, no broth, but I enjoy the dry, sweet sherry flavor, so it didn't bother me. I should have run out into the garden to snip some fresh herbs, but it was already dark when I was cooking, so a sprinkle of dry thyme won out -- fresh is absolutely better, so don't succumb to my mistake of late-night cooking.

Something worth noting: my new favorite side dish is broiled broccoli. Inspired by the Broccoli Blasted at Seattle's Belltown neighborhood wine/foodie bar, Black Bottle, I started taking large chunks of broccoli, tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper, and laying them out on a baking sheet right underneath the broiler. It just takes a few minutes to get get the tops crispy, and turn the whole thing a bright, perfectly-cooked green. The broccoli remains crunchy, but with a smoky flavor of the nearly-torched florets. I think drizzled with a bit of pork fat, it would make the dish even better, getting smoky under the heated coil, and then served with the crispy cracklins sprinkled atop the greens, but I'll save that experiment for another day when there's bacon in the fridge.

'Shrooms make everything better, even tough cuts of meat. - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Nearly on the outskirts of FoodFail, my only regret was that I used pre-cut slices of turkey breast -- pesky meat department shortcuts! Their thin cutlets belied an unanticipated toughness, and no, I didn't overcook it. Maybe this should have been called Jive Turkey Marsala. So let that be a lesson to shortcut-takers everywhere -- butterfly some chicken breasts and pound the living Valhalla out of it to make a proper whisper-thin paillard, as your efforts will be rewarded in the all-important eating phase of the meal. I usually make this dish with chicken, but I hadn't defrosted any chicken breasts and I totally admit to being sucked into the siren song of pre-sliced turkey breasts on the late-night grocery store run. A mistake I'll not soon repeat. Aside from that one transgression, the meal was still acceptible to hungry tummies, and leftovers were swiftly cleaned up, so the Wasabi household did not turn their noses up in effigy to tough turkey, but I do promise to be more mindful of my timesavers.