Spicy Broccoli Beef

Phew. I'm feeling so much better today. I was sick yesterday and having not been sick for over a year I didn't remember what it felt like! I think I was getting sick Saturday and somehow didn't realize until Monday night that my sore throat was not me losing my voice from a busy weekend, but was actually me coming down with something. My voice isn't totally back yet, but I can think clearly again, so that is wonderful news :) Anyways, Spicy Broccoli Beef is what I made Monday night. Last night we had frozen pizza since I was sick, but I don't think I'll be posting about how to prepare a frozen pizza :)

In the kitchen I think my most loved pan is my Wok. I try to prepare just about every kind of meal utilizing that great kitchen accessory. I think the best part of owning a Wok is that it makes dinner in under 30 mins. In fact the most time consuming part of preparing a meal in a Wok is typically chopping everything into bite sized pieces. Well that's simple enough!

In our household we gravitate toward food that is a bit spicier with an Asian influence. I shop the Asian aisles at the grocery store and I am always amused at the items they have there. Most I can't read and of the ones I can read I have no idea how to prepare them :) It's inspiring to try to find a way to cook with mystery ingredients. I usually cook meat and veggies in the Wok and then toss over rice with a sauce, but lately I've been enjoying tossing noodles into the Wok with my cooked meat and veggies.

Before I chopped the meat

Post meat choppage (yes that is a word; don't trust the dictionary)

Broccoli beef is a typical Asian dish, and I love to give the meat a little zing :) Please don't make this recipe if you cannot handle even a little spice! The best thing to do with the meat is to marinate it in either a piece of tupperware or ziploc bag. Then make another batch of sauce to pour over the meat prior to serving. When putting meat over rice, the sauce will remain for lack of a better term- saucy. When putting meat over noodles, the noodles tend to absorb all the sauce and really spice up the noodles but you will have a drier meal. Either way is delicious.

The leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce

8 tbsp water

4 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp soy sauce

4 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp honey

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 head of broccoli (frozen can work if you are in a pinch)

1 lb sirloin or beef chuck cut into bite-sized pieces

1 pkg ramen or chuka soba noodles

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine sauce ingredients together in bowl. Divide sauce in half and marinate beef in ziploc baggy for 1 hour.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in Wok or large skillet. Add beef and garlic into skillet and cook until beef is almost done. Add broccoli and put lid over Wok or skillet to steam the broccoli. Remove lid after 2-3 minutes (broccoli will appear bright green).

3. In the meantime prepare noodles as directed. My noodles needed to be boiled for 5 minutes prior to adding them to the broccoli beef mixture.

4.. Combine noodles and beef mixture in Wok or skillet and pour remainder of sauce over mixture. Heat sauce to a warm temperature. Remove from heat and serve.