Teriyaki Beef and Broccoli over Brown Rice

Oh fungus, how you love to sneak up on me when I least expect it!  I was beyond excited to make tonight's dinner.  My mouth had been watering for days in anticipation, so you can only imagine my disappointment when I opened the bag of broccoli and found that it had started to look more like a biology lab petri dish!   I had to modify what we were having for dinner tonight, but I still wanted to give all of you the original recipe with directions!  All of the pictures are here (sans the broccoli), but we ended up having french cut green beans with our meal instead.  I hope that the blanching technique I discuss with the broccoli prep helps some of you out!  Blanching is a great way to cook your veggies, but also keeps their bright healthy color, and also helps keep some of their crunchy texture so they don't taste like mush!  You can use this technique with lots of veggies! 

To Prepare the Beef
1. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. One the oil is hot, add 3/4 pounds of lean beef.  I like to use the strip cut london broil.  Most grocery stores now label this as "stir fry" meat directly on the packaging.  If you don't want to use this, stew meat (the cubed stuff) works great too!

3. Continue to cook the meat over medium heat while you start preparing your broccoli!

To Prepare the Broccoli
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, cut 1 pound of broccoli stems down to a length that you like (cut them close to the broccoli flower if you don't like stems, or cut them farther down the stem if you like eating the stems).  Remember, YOU are the one eating, so make it to YOUR liking!  Also make sure you remove any rouge leaves from the stems and flowers! 
3. Make a large bowl of ice water, and set it aside.
4. You are going to boil the broccoli for just a minute or two (depending on how much you are cooking).
5. Once the broccoli has cooked for a minute, drain it and put it in the ice water.  This whole process is called blanching.  One of the many reasons people do not like broccoli is because, generally, when we order it from a restaurant or make it on our own, it loses its bright green color and is mushy and floppy!  Blanching will cook the broccoli enough to make it a little softer, but also helps it keep its great color, and a little crunchiness!

To Finish Preparing 
1. Add the blanched broccoli to the pan with the beef. The broccoli will finish cooking in this pan!
2. Add a 10 ounce bottle of teriyaki sauce to the pan and stir well!  This is going to look like a lot of sauce in my picture, but when you add the broccoli it will hold a lot of the sauce in the flowers!  I went with La Choy's, mainly because it was on mega sale at my grocery store, but also because their products are reliable and rarely change!

3. While this is all cooking together, make your brown rice!

I so did not want to be enjoying this with canned green beans! :-P

Fall Blend Pork Stir Fry over White Rice

So, I know some of you may be put off by some of the ingredients you will see listed below, which is why I am going to talk about them and what to expect out of them!  This was actually my first experience cooking with these ingredients, and was pleasantly surprised!  I figured I was going to spend my night cursing, knife in hand, and finally getting dinner on the table at midnight.  Jicima - Jicima tastes a like a combination of celery, onions, and a hint of apple and is crunchy like a watercress.  Despite its outside appearance (rugged, tough, and brown), it is very easy to cut through and peel.  Chayote Squash - Chayote is a squash that is native to Costa Rica, and almost resembles a green tomato or tomatillo.  This, again, peels easily and the meat of the squash has a texture similar to a pear.  It tastes very much like a mild apple.  All of the veggies and fruit I bought for this dinner were surprisingly inexpensive - which is ALWAYS a plus!

Fall Blend Pork Stir Fry over White Rice 
Yields 5 generous servings

To Prepare Pork 
1. Slice 3/4 pounds thin cut, boneless pork chops into 1 inch long, 1/2 inch wide cubes
2. Pan sear in olive oil in a frying pan

To Prepare Veggies
1. Peel jicama and cut into 1/4 inch slices.  Cut these slices into 1 inch squares
2. Thinly slice 2 red pears, leaving the peels on
3. Grate 1 cup of carrots, or you can buy pre-grated carrots to save some time and energy
4. Dice 2 shallots
5. Peel 1 chayote squash and cut into half inch cubes

Bringing It Together
1. Add the shallots to the pork and olive oil.  Cook them down until the shallots just start to brown
2. Add the remaining veggies and fruit
3. Continue to cook for 10 minutes

Sauce
1. Combine a 1/2 cup of vinegar with 3 tablespoons of honey
2. Blend well and pour into frying pan
3. Cook all ingredients together for approximately 10 more minutes, or until the pears are just starting to lose their peels and have become soft
4. While the stir fry is finishing cooking, prepare your white rice

The stir fry tastes best when served over the rice.  Be sure to serve a little extra sauce over the rice and stir fry when you plate your meal!