Mar 04, 2015 Stir fries are a super quick, healthy, fresh and delicious weeknight option. And I love when you can stretch a couple of steaks into dinner for four by filling them out with lots of veggies. Despite that, when racking my brain for dinner ideas, I seldom think them – I don’t know why! They’re such a staple to many of my friends. The biggest thing to remember when stir-frying is to prep all of your ingredients before you start cooking – the 30 minute marinade here affords you the time to do all of your chopping and mixing at a leisurely pace, and maybe wash a few dishes while you’re at it. Because you’re working over high heat, your ingredients are going to cook quickly. Restaurant stir-fried dishes always feature perfectly crisp-tender vegetables, vibrant in colour and still a bit crunchy – while their homemade counterparts too often fall victim to the unprepared cook and end up soggy and wilted. This particular dish is pretty easy, featuring just broccoli – so it’s not too fussy. But when stir-frying multiple veggies in other recipes, you want to make sure you’ve done your fancy mise-en-place before you ignite the burner. Next, you want to take your time and cook things in batches – broccoli first, then beef. If you over-crowd your pan or wok, the food will steam instead of frying. When cooking the beef (or any other meat), be sure to get your oil nice and hot, and arrange the pieces in a single layer. Don’t flip until they release willingly – you want to nice browning, as this contributes a lot to the flavour and appearance. Are stir-fries on regular rotation in your house? What are your favourites?
