Wednesday Stir Fry

Melissa was taking requests last night, so I asked for her special beef and onion stir fry over rice. She sent me to the grocery for an onion and something green, and I came home with broccoli rabe (a.k.a. raab, rapa, rapine, rappi, rappone, turnip broccoli, taitcat, Italian broccoli, and Chinese broccoli). It looks similar to broccoli but isn't actually a broccoli relative, and it works quite nicely as a steamed green in Asian dishes. The really special thing about Melissa's beef and onion stir fry is the wasabi mayonnaise she uses as a garnish.

She tends to hide a big, face-slapping whack of wasabi in the rice just to mess with me (actually it's because she has a passion for wasabi), but I love it despite the booby trap. I brought home a six-pack of Weyerbacher Merry Monks' Belgian Ale, which worked quite well with the sinus-clearing stir-fry, although the 9.3% alcohol content took us a bit by surprise...

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Melissa's Recipe and Notes

Beef and onion stir fry

Ingredients:

500 g beef eye fillet (tenderloin)
soy sauce
pepper
1 onion
olive oil
broccoli rabe
1/2 cup sushi rice
1 1/4 cup water
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
Kewpie (Japanese) mayonnaise
wasabi paste


Thinly slice beef and drench in soy sauce with cracked pepper to marinate. Bring rice and water to simmer, then place bamboo steamer on top of the pot with broccoli rabe and leave to steam for approx 5 minutes. We're going to let the pot do double-duty by steaming the greens while the rice is cooking.

Remove the steamer after 5 mintues and replace with a lid, then turn heat to low for a further 15 min. Cover bottom of frying pan with olive oil and heat. To the hot pan add sliced onion (half rings) to soften, then add sliced and drained beef. Stir fry briefly to seal in the meat juices and then remove from heat. Remove onions and beef to a bowl and toss steamed broccoli in the pan juices. When rice is ready, drizzle with rice wine vinegar and serve in a bowl with 1/2 tsp wasabi paste.

Add in the steamed greens as shown in the finished dish photo, streak in Kewpie mayo and top with beef and onions. Mix wasabi paste and Kewpie mayo to taste and use it to top off the dish. Optional: Warn your diners about the wasabi booby trap...