Beef With Broccoli
Beef With Broccoli
This beef with broccoli recipe is an easy midweek dish to put together that will soon become one of your favourite Saturday night treats.
I have a need to be candid here and say that i’ve not made this dish in a while, but it is one of my all time favourites!
How so?
Well its the first dish i wrote in my third recipe book, the ones that my kids will get when i’m dead - no laughing - its the only thing i have that is of any value to leave them.
Anyway, just because i’ve not made it in a while, doesn’t mean its not my favourite, so i guess i need to get on it and make it for the lovely Mr G, again.
The thing that makes this beef dish as good as it is, its the meat, flank steak otherwise called hanger steak and other names - check with your butcher - it’s a thin piece of meat which , when cut against the grain and cooked, is tender as can be.
Marinating the beef really lets the flavours soak in to the meat and helps to tenderise it, and the leftover marinade makes the most incredibly tasty sauce.
Ready for the sauce
Why broccoli? ‘Cos i love it.
I like to char the sliced broccoli to bring out the flavour even more, it adds a lot, but look at what you have in the fridge before rushing out for some fresh broccoli.
I’ve made this with thinly sliced carrot instead of broccoli and its still delicious, even missed out a vegetable altogether and added some cooked noodles to the beef right at the end.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life
What You Need
For Marinade
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp white sugar
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 ½ lb Flank Steak – Cut into thin strips – See Tip Box
For The Sauce and Putting it together
½ cup soy Sauce
2 tablespoon soft brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic - minced
2 tablespoons plain flour
1-tablespoon sherry - See Tip Box
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Heads of broccoli – separate the crowns and slice them thinly – See Tip Box
How It’s Done
Marinade and Beef
Mix together all the marinade ingredients until you have a smooth paste. It doesn’t look like a lot, but there’s enough to coat the cut beef strips to marinade, which is all you need.
Cut the beef into thin strips and put the strips into a bowl that you can store in the fridge– See tip box
Pour the marinade over the beef and mix really well so that all the beef is coated in a layer of the marinade. Cover and store in the fridge until 20 minutes before cooking. – See Tip Box
For the Cooking
Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce, - everything except the sliced broccoli and the vegetable oil.
Heat up your frying pan or wok. When it’s really hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat.
Add the broccoli and cook on a high heat for approximately 3 minutes. The broccoli should be a little brown around the edges, cooked but still with a little crunch. You don’t want the broccoli to burn, so don’t walk away from it and make sure you stir it often.
After 3 minutes, take the broccoli out and set aside for later.
Add the remaining oil to the same pan.
Add the beef strips and half of the sauce mixture.
Sauté the beef and sauce mixture on a high heat for about 4 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink and it’s just cooked all the way through.
Add the broccoli back to the pan along with the remaining sauce and mix well.
Sauté for another couple of minutes and then serve hot
Tip Box
Veggie – If you want to keep it veggie, replace the beef with some mushrooms. Treat them the same way as you would the beef, but adjust cooking time accordingly.
Substitute - My ideal choice of beef to use here is flank steak. Even though this is a cheaper cut of meat, it’s sometimes difficult to get from your butcher. It’s because it’s cheaper that lots of butchers use in their mince meat. Give your butcher a shout out to order some in advance. If you cant get flank , ask your butcher for a good substitute.
Cut the beef – To keep the beef tender, cut the strips against the grain. This makes the grain of the meat shorter making the meat even more tender
No Sherry - Don’t have any sherry? Not many of us do. Substitute white or red wine or even port is good. Whatever you’re drinking at the time.
Soy Sauce -Gluten free soy sauce is available really easily from supermarkets, in case you’re gluten intolerant. I also like the lower salt soy sauce. I’d prefer to make use of other seasoning. Entirely your taste
Marinade – Marinade the beef for more than an hour. It’s so easy to prepare. I will usually prepare the beef in the morning or night before, cover and leave it in the fridge until I need it later.
Cornflour – If you don’t have any cornflour in your pantry, use plain flour instead in the marinade. Make sure it’s well-mixed together with no lumps before you pour it over the beef.
Broccoli – The recipe calls for just the broccoli heads or florets to be used. I don’t like to waste anything, so I also slice the stalks really thinly and cook those too.
Ready to eat
