SEARED BEAN SPROUTS WITH PEAS, BEEF, AND ORANGE SAUCE

 This is week 5 of cooking with our group on the  Food Matters Project

The Food Matters philosophy is all about eating more plants and fewer animal products and processed foods - and the positive impact this has on our health and the environment.

This week our host is Dominica and she chose Mark Bittman's recipe for Seared Bean Sprouts with Beef and Sesame Orange Sauce.

This is a great recipe and you can use whatever vegetables you might have on hand. I had some peas growing in the garden so I picked some to add to the stir fry. I also had some ripe oranges on the tree so I grabbed a few....well two were ripe, one not so much but the bees were having a convention in the tree so I just grabbed what was safe.

Beef Chuck Flat Iron Steak is my favorite cut for stir fry or grilling. It is so tender and has so much flavor.

Instead of pouring the sauce into the stir fry as Mark Bittman suggests, I decided to marinate the meat in the sauce for 4 hours before cooking it.

I made a marinade of orange zest, orange juice, soy sauce, honey, chopped ginger, and minced garlic.

The recipe calls for thinly slicing the beef before cooking, but I like my beef rare so I decided to cook it whole and put a nice sear on it. This way the marinade started to caramelize and gave it extra flavor.

I sliced the (barely) cooked meat and set it aside.

When I was ready to cook the stir fry all I had to do was toss the bean sprouts, scallions, and peas in some oil, add the marinade, cook for 3 minutes and toss in the beef for a quick warm up.

I served it over brown rice.

This recipe is delicious.

SEARED BEAN SPROUTS, PEAS, AND BEEF WITH ORANGE SAUCE

8 oz. Flat Iron steak

2 TBSP. vegetable oil

1/2 pound bean sprouts

1/2 pound Chinese peas
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
2 small garlic cloves, minced
3 TBSP. soy sauce
Grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 TBSP. honey
 1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated , all chopped

Combine the grated ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, honey, and zest and juice of two oranges in a small bowl. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Put beef in a glass dish, pour marinade over and refrigerate for 4 hours. Remove meat from dish. Put marinade in sauce pan and bring to a boil for one minute. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet until hot and sear the meat until caramelization starts showing. Do this on both sides. Let meat rest  for 15 minutes.

Thinly slice the meat and set aside.

In large skillet heat 2 TBSP. oil until hot. Add the bean sprouts, peas, and white parts on the onions. Cook, stirring frequently until just starting to wilt, about 3 minutes. Pour in the marinade and the sliced beef and cook for one minute.

Garnish with chopped green onions and serve over brown rice.

Recipe adapted from The Food Matters Cook Book.

You can find the original recipe here.