Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: PF Changs Mongolian Beef

To start off my meal post for today (yesterday, technically), I thought I'd share a funny story. I don't share a lot of funny things in this blog, but this one I have to write down somewhere. Those of you who have known me for a while know that I can be quite careless. I have been known to run into things (walls, door frames,guard rails, dumpsters...). I trip, fall, basically, I could at times be described as a red headed blonde ;) I've tried very hard to overcome those characteristics but sometimes they sneak back into my life. Yesterday was one of those days. I was going to cook something in the crock pot and started getting it ready while talking to my mom on the phone. I have two crock pot recipes on the menu this week, the first is French Onion Pork Chops (pork chops, french onion soup, water, and parsley) and the second is Cola Roast (pot roast, onion soup mix, and coke). So I'm talking to my mom, the kids are both fussing about something or another, so I'm trying to get them something to snack on while I get dinner ready, and I just wasn't thinking things through completely. I put the pork chops in, talk some more, clean up a mess or two and then put the onion soup mix in. This is where I first went wrong, I put the onion soup mix in instead of the french onion soup. It's easy to confuse the two, but from there I completely switched recipes. Instead of adding the water and parsley, I added the coke. All day long I kept saying how good is smelled and how excited I was to eat dinner. J came home and I bragged to him that dinner was cooking and would be ready at exactly the right time. At dinner time, I realized my mistake. We had a very sweet Cola Chops dinner ;) It was nasty. Now onto this week's new recipe:

This is my first Gluten Free recipe (well, others might be gluten free too, I just haven't paid attention until now...) and I have to say that it was delish! I was actually very surprised! I thought going gluten free would mean "taste free" but nope, it's not tasteless. J gave this an 8.5, my sister and I agree that it's a 9, and Sweet T ate a few bites without any fuss whatsoever! Yum Yum! I can't wait to make it again! I got this recipe from my mother-in-law and I'm not positive where she got it, but she made a few adjustments to it. Here ya go:

Sauce:
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (changed to 1/2 cup)
1 lb flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

1. Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of oil in medium saucepan over med/low heat.


Don't get the oil too hot or you'll get spatter hwen adding the other liquids.


Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.


Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.


Remove it from heat.


2. Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4 inch thick bite-size slices.


Tilt the blade of your knife at about a 45 degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.


3. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch and apply a thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.


Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.


4. As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (or skillet).


Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.


Add the beef to the oil and saute for 2 minutes or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.


You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef will go back on the heat later.


Stir the meat around a little so it cooks evenly.


After a couple of minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and place it on paper towels.


Then pour the oil out of the wok.


Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.


Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. (My MIL leaves the meat in the sauce)


Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.


You can also substitute chicken for the beef, if you prefer it.

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