Another night, another CSA vegetable taken care of!
Tonight, I took a page out of Diana Kuan’s The Chinese Takeout Cookbook (not literally, of course – c’mon, this is a library book!) and whipped up a batch of “beef” with broccoli. Of course, Ms. Kuan uses the real thing, but being a vegetarian household, we were only too pleased to substitute Gardein’s “beef” tips in its stead. The broccoli, as you might have guessed, arrived via last week’s CSA box from Great Country Farms, and I was only too happy to put it to work!
I won’t give away the whole recipe here – Ms. Kuan has a book to sell! – but I will say that I used the florets from two heads of broccoli, plus a good amount of the stalks, and gave them a three-minute head start in the pan before adding the beef tips in. I’d set the rice and spring rolls on to cook (and bake, respectively) prior to getting the pan heated up, and by the time the broccoli, beef, and sauce mixture was ready, the rest of the meal was too!
I tell you what, I don’t think there’s a single recipe I’ve tried out of this cookbook that I’ve even so much as disliked. Every one of them has been fantastic! And this one was no exception. We loved the beef and broccoli, and the sauce was wonderfully “meaty” in taste (primarily because of the soy sauce and broth blend). Served over rice, it was a complete meal that filled us both up but didn’t leave us overstuffed. And we paired the main course with a side of two spring rolls apiece – a perfect combination!
:)