Asian Style a la Rachael Ray

I have been attempting to try new dishes here for the last few weeks because Nick and I both agreed that our meals had been getting pretty boring. Nick is a big fan of most Asian style food and when a What's Cooking Nestie had mentioned Rachael Ray's Teriyaki Chicken with Warm Ginger-Carrot Slaw, I saved the recipe knowing it might be a winner.

I didn't make any modifications to the recipe this first time. I cooked the chicken on my grill pan (because it's 90+ degrees outside), which produced fabulously moist chicken. I served the whole meal over brown rice and Nick splashed some soy sauce on everything (he likes his salt!). The chicken was definitely a huge hit - great flavor!

The only change Nick suggested for next time would be to eliminate the ginger in the slaw because it was overpowering. Also, this was a TON of slaw for two people - I would cut the recipe in half.

Oh, and for the record -- this "30 minute meal" took me 45 minutes from start to finish.

Asian Fare

So last night I had a thawed slab of beef loin center cut boneless sirloin steak that I had no clue what to do with. As always, the girls of the Nest came through :) I ended up taking the suggestion of doing a beef stir fry. It's been quite awhile since we've had stir fry, so that sounded good. And this was probably the first stir fry that turned out perfect in terms of the sauce thickening correctly and the meat remained tender, not tough. Here is the recipe I used!


Beef Stir-Fry
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into 1/8-inch thin strips
1 teaspoon cornstarch
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 cups fresh snow peas (I used broccoli because we had some in the house)
4 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce and chicken broth. Reserve 1/4 cup.

Place beef in a resealable plastic bag. Add remaining soy sauce mixture; seal and mix. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Place cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir in reserved soy sauce mixture until smooth; set aside.

In a non-stick skillet (I used my wok), stir-fry mushrooms and snow peas in 2 teaspoons hot oil for 3-4 minutes or until snow peas are crisp-tender. Remove and cover with foil to keep warm.

Drain and discard marinade from beef. In the same skillet, stir-fry the beef in the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil for 2 minutes. Stir cornstarch mixture; add to skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add vegetables back to skillet and toss to combine.

Served over brown rice.

Source: Nestie Ashleighl