Stir Fry Beef & Green Beans

When mom passed I brought home her gray box of recipes. It's full of OLD recipes that are handwritten, some typed, some clippings out of a magazine. You know how they used to store recipes.  I've got a process when it comes to selecting my recipes for the week and I realized a couple of weeks ago, these recipes weren't on the list that I choose from. So I added them. 

Then this week one of them was randomly selected. 

Now as I've read many of the recipes in this gray box I chuckle at the "assumptions" that are made. Or the list of items in the ingredients that never show up in the directions. Or the other way around. Items in the directions that aren't on the ingredients. 

This recipe I thought had an item in the directions that wasn't in the ingredient list - until I realized "red pepper" in the directions meant the red pepper flakes in the ingredients list.  

This is your standard stir-fry recipe. I didn't read the recipe thoroughly enough ahead of time and so started to cook dinner and realized I should have marinated the beef. SOOOO...I choose to not marinate the beef. I do think it would make a difference in the flavor of this dish. So allow yourself an hour to marinate. 

Stir Fry Beef & Green Beans

Recipe from Mom's Gray Box

Serves 4

2 T soy sauce (I used low sodium)

2 T dry sherry

1 clove garlic, crushed (Yah right. I used 3 cloves)

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/3 c corn oil, divided (I used vegetable oil)

1 lb beef, thinly sliced diagonally (round or flank steak)

1 c thinly sliced onion

1 lb green beans, diagonally sliced in 3/4" pieces

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 c beef broth

2 T corn starch

In a medium bowl, stir together soy, sherry, sugar and ginger.  Add beef and marinate for 1 hour. 

In a large skillet or wok, heat 3 T of oil over medium-high heat. Add green beans, onions and stir fy for 4 minutes or until tender-crisp. Remove and set aside. 

Add remaining oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add beef and red pepper. Stir regularly for 2 minutes or until browned.  [JW note: I now see that the "red pepper" in the directions may be referring to the red pepper flakes]. 

Return beans and onion to the pan. Stir beef broth into corn starch until smooth. Add to skillet. Stir constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Serve over rice. 

Other ways to make this:

Beef & Cauliflower - Same recipe. Substitute 1 small head of cauliflower for green beans. Stir in 1 jar pimentos. 

Beef & Mushroom - Same recipe. Swap 1 lb sliced mushrooms for beans. 

Beef & Chinese Vegetables: Same Recipe. Substitute green beans with 1 c diagonally sliced celery, 1 c sliced mushrooms, 1 can (8oz) water chestnuts drained and sliced, 1 can (8oz) bamboo shoots drained.