Use What You've Got!

Lunch today was leftovers of this beautiful dish.  And yes, I've been looking forward to lunch ever since I woke up :)

Today's lunch had quinoa instead of jasmine rice, though.  

So seriously, last night's dinner was fan-freaking-tastic!  And (bonus!), one of the reasons I put it on the menu was to use up a large quantity of broccoli slaw that would have otherwise gone uneaten and probably would have gotten soggy and yucky in the fridge.

I had leftover broccoli slaw from the super yummy buffalo chicken rolls I made a previous weekend (sorry, no pictures!).  The recipe for this dish didn't really call for broccoli slaw; it actually uses a bunch of veggies chopped up as matchsticks.  But, I had the slaw and needed to use it!  The recipe also called for oyster sauce and mushrooms, neither of which I had and neither of which I wanted to buy.

So, I adapted the original recipe and it still came out damn tasty!  Imagine if I had followed everything to order.  

The kiddos got deconstructed steak rolls, but I'm sad to say that they weren't a huge hit :(  It's too bad, because I was pretty proud of how colorful and healthy their plates looked.  Unfortunately, they mostly just played with the edamame.  Taylor ate his rice and I think he ate one of the green peppers. He may have put the red pepper in his mouth.  That's about it.  Oh well.  Try and try again!

I have to say, this was an extremely delicious meal.  The veggie filling was so good, I could eat it straight out of the pan (and may have actually done just that last night).  

I definitely adapted this from the original recipe to make it slightly cheaper for myself and also a bit quicker to make.  Making it a little easier was done out of necessity, since the little ones were getting restless.

If I could do it over again, I would make this on a Saturday when we had a little more time to "do it right."  I would give it more time to freeze to make it easier to slice, and I would definitely build in more time to marinate the steak in the soy sauce.  I would probably also buy the oyster sauce to make the sauce according to the original recipe.  But seriously, we will definitely be making this dish again!  Bob loved the fact that he could eat it with his fingers like a sushi roll.  I ended up using a fork and knife to eat it like a respectable person :)

Here's a quick version of how we made last night's delicious meal:

Ingredients:

• flank steak (1 lb. or so)
• broccoli slaw
• red pepper
• green pepper
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• squeeze garlic
• squeeze ginger
• salt and peppa
• edamame (to serve on the side)
• boil in the bag jasmine rice (to serve on the side)

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• medium squeeze of garlic
• Original recipe called for 1 tbsp. oyster sauce, but I just used a drizzle of fish sauce ('cause that's what I had), and I added a couple shakes of soy sauce to make it look brown.  'Cause that's how I roll.

1. Freeze flank steak for 15-30 minutes to make it easier to slice.  Slice into 1/8 inch strips, against the grain. Pound them thin so they'll cook up fast.
2. Meanwhile, make sure all of your veg is chopped matchstick style (slaw is already like that)
3. Saute veg in with some olive oil and add about 1 tbsp. soy sauce (I just shook it over the pan a few times).  Add about 1 tsp. of sesame oil (drizzled over the pan).  Add a big squeeze of garlic and a big squeeze of ginger.  Add a few shakes of salt and peppa.
4. In the original recipe, you're supposed to marinate your sliced steak in some soy sauce and pepper.  If we had time, I would totally do that, because I bet it makes it even more awesome.
5. Once you've got your filling done, you take you steak slices and lay them out.  Put a little filling on each end and roll it up.  Stick a toothpick through to hold it all in place.
6. Heat your saute pan with about 1 tbsp. veggie oil.  
7. Add about 5 rolls and sear on both sides for about 1-2 minutes.  Add about half your sauce and put the lid on the pan and let them cook for 3-5 minutes.
8. Repeat for remaining rolls.
9. Servie with edamame and rice.

Original Recipe

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!