Steak and Rice

We eat beef about once a week, and it's usually grilled rib-eyes for me and Andy, and marinated steak tips for the kids. Last night I tried a different marinade, and it surprisingly didn't taste much different, despite the maple syrup. The kids (and I) gobbled it down. You could obviously use any cut of meat that you like; the original recipe called for sirloin flap steaks, whatever that means.

Marinade for Steak Tips

3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp maple syrup
4 garlic cloves, pressed
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

The recipe called for using a blender; next time I think I will just whisk it. Anyhow, in both recipes it seems to be the balsamic vinegar that does the trick, but it's nice to have an alternative concoction in case I run out of brown sugar or something. Give it a try and see what you think. (The recipe calls for only about 15 minutes of marinating, which is very helpful at the end of a long day!)

With the steak we had vegetable fried rice. All the recipes I've ever seen for fried rice say that you really have to use day-old cold, dry rice to get an authentic Chinese texture. It's rare that we have much leftover rice from Chinese takeout, and I always forget to order extra, but this week we had a whole quart sitting in the fridge. (Ming Tsai says that you if you don't have day-old rice, you can spread out freshly cooked rice in a single layer on a baking sheet, and then place it in the freezer to cool and dry.)

This recipe is really just a guideline; you can do almost anything and not go wrong. Use any vegetables you want, but keep in mind that some denser veggies may need to cook for an extra minute or two. I had no time for chopping up lots of vegetables, so I just bought a bag of frozen corn, peas, carrots, and green beans—yes, I did! The whole thing took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.

Vegetable Fried Rice

3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided use
3–4 cups chopped vegetables (A bag of frozen works great!)
4 scallions (both white and green parts), thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
4 cups cold steamed white rice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce (Somehow this seemed like a lot to me, so I used only about 3 Tbsp, but the full 4 Tbsp would have been fine.)

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and stir-fry until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the scallion and garlic and cook for another minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring to break up the clumps of rice, until heated through, about 5 minutes. [Update: I usually like to give this a little longer, to get some of the rice kind of browned and crunchy.]

Push everything to the edges of the pan to make a "well" in the center. Add the last tablespoon of oil to the well and then add the beaten eggs. Stir-fry the eggs in the well until they are almost fully scrambled, then stir the scrambled eggs into the rice and veggie mixture. Stir in the soy sauce and serve.

Comments

[Elena]

In my "authentic" fried rice, I would never dream of using frozen veggies. ;-)

[Maureen Potter]

I have used frozen veggies for rice many times. Quick and dirty as my mother used to say. I never have rice on hand. Always cook it fresh and throw it in the freezer on a sheet pan. And I continually find out that all my "original" thoughts were had before by someone else!

Mo

[Will]

Maple syrup is a great marinade! Try this with salmon: Mix 1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 clove garlic (minced), 1/4 tsp garlic salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Pour over 1 lb of salmon in a baking dish and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes (until flakey). You can also add ginger to the marinade, which I usually do.

[Sheila]

I actually made both of these dishes last night, and my kids gobbled it down. Thank you Karen--it felt like Verbatim was my own little Food Network!

[Kerri]

I love making fried rice, though I don't have the freezer space to try the day-of method, so I have to plan ahead and make some the night before.

I feel super-stupid, but what are steak tips? What cut of steak are they the tip of? What other things besides fried rice do you like to serve them with?

[Karen]

I think this must be a Boston thing. I just confirmed this with my Whole Foods butcher: We call steak tips or sirloin tips the meat that comes from the belly of the cow, near the flank steak and skirt steak -- but the tips are more tender. All of these cuts need to marinate to tenderize them a bit. My other favorite marinade is here: http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2007/06/dinner_and_part.html

This was the first time I ever served steak tips with fried rice -- they go great with anything that any steak would go with, like potatoes.

[Leora]

Bostonian restaurant owner Ming Tsai just did an interview with Samantha Ettus of Obsessed TV but didn't mention the rice trick. Look delicious! Good stuff.