Beef with Broccoli and Vegetable Fried Rice

So here it is, Friday night. If you are like me, you have probably had a long week. For me it started with a snow day for the kids, then a kid home sick from school for 2 days, then spending the next 2 days trying to catch up on all the things I wasn’t able to get done at the beginning of the week. Whether it’s a crazy week home with the kids or a super busy week at work, when Friday comes around you are ready to unwind.

Some Fridays the hubby and I go out with friends for a fun dinner with drinks to unwind, but some weeks we stay home and have a relaxing night in. Here is my challenge to you — instead of reaching for the phone on that relaxing night and ordering in, try making your own “take out” meal. I bet if you go to any food blog, you will find their take on a Chinese take out meal. Why? Because so many Chinese meals are easy and quick to make, healthier when made at home, and are on the table faster when made at home than when you make the phone call and wait for delivery. So give it a shot and let me know what you think!

For the beef with broccoli, begin by cutting the broccoli into florets. You want to make sure that they are small enough to be bite sized. This is a very fast cooking dish, so if the broccoli is too large, it won’t cook in time and you will have raw broccoli covered in sauce…not what we are looking for.

Next step is slicing the beef. To help tenderize the meat, you want to slice it against the grain. What does that mean? When you look at a piece of meat, you can see the direction of the grains of meat, the direction that the fat and muscle fibers run through the meat. In order to avoid meat that is hard to chew or even cut, you need to cut across the grain, cutting the these long fibers into pieces so the meat falls apart more easily. Another key is to cut the slices thinly. We want this meat to cook through quickly over a very high heat, so thin slices are very important.

One the meat is cut, mix together the sauce. This is one area where you should feel free to adjust the sauce according to your preferred tastes. For example, my husband isn’t a huge fan of ginger so I decided to leave it out, but it does add a great bite to the sauce and you might decide to add it in. If you have been reading the blog, you know that I love spice so of course I had to add in Sriracha. You can add more spice if you like it hotter, more sugar if you like it sweeter – don’t be afraid to experiment. That is how you learn what works and what you like. It’s what makes cooking fun!

Mix in half of the sauce with the meat and allow it to marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until shimmering. Once heated, carefully add the meat into a single layer. Because the oil is so hot, be careful of any splatter. Once in the pan, do not move the meat around. Allow it to cook on high for 2 minutes until it browns on the first side.

Flip the meat to cook on the second side and add in the broccoli. Cook for 2 minutes, giving the meat a chance to brown on the second side and the broccoli a chance to cook through. Then add in the remaining sauce. Almost immediately, the sauce will thicken to coat the beef and broccoli — the magic of corn starch. Corn starch is what gives the sauce it’s thickness and makes the dish so saucy and delicious. Stir the dish to coat and serve alongside the fried rice (recipe up next)!

What goes better with beef with broccoli than fried rice? Some may say classic white rice and I agree, white rice does offset the richness of the beef. However, I think fried rice is an essential part of an “authentic” American Chinese meal, especially when it is homemade. Homemade fried rice is much healthier than what is made at restaurants, and should help take away some of the guilt you might feel. And when you take help from the grocery store, it could not be easier!

There is one ingredient that I think is the absolute key to good fried rice – day old rice. Freshly cooked does not absorb the flavor as well and does not cook with the same texture as day old rice. This is a great meal to make with leftover rice from a meal you’ve made earlier in the week, or if you are cooking rice during the week, just make extra and set it aside in the fridge. I’ll be honest. As you all know, I like to meal plan, so because I knew I wanted to make fried rice on Friday and I didn’t have any rice made, I actually cooked up a batch of rice on Thursday and stuck it in the fridge. Having the pre-cooked rice is actually the only prep work that this dish requires. How nice is that!?

Fried rice can be made in a wok, or if you are like me (and probably most households) you only have one wok, if that. And since I was using the wok to make the beef with broccoli, I just grabbed a large flat bottomed pan and it worked just as well. Start by heating a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the pan over medium heat. Once heated, add in the egg and quickly scramble it. Then it remove it from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in the pan and add in the frozen vegetables. They actually make packs of mixed frozen corn, peas and carrots…perfect for fried rice! There is no shame in using frozen vegetables, they are just as good as raw and for fried rice, I think they are better! The perfect texture, the perfect size, and I guarantee every Chinese restaurant you go to uses them in their fried rice as well. Sauté the vegetables just until they thaw out and begin to soften.

Now push the vegetables over to one side of the pan and add in the rice to the other side. Spread out the rice, making sure it separates. Then mix the rice and vegetables together.

Once combined, add the egg back in along with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (and scallions are optional but add a nice oniony bite). And voila! In about 5 minutes, you have delicious homemade fried rice without having to wait or pay for delivery!

Serve the fried rice alongside the beef with broccoli for a delicious take-out meal at home! If you clean up before you serve, I bet you could convince your partner that you ordered it!