Tuesday, May 8, 2012

5/6/2012 - Sweet Spicy Steak with Jasmine Rice and Ginger Sugar Snap Peas


The Avengers movie premiered this weekend and we here at Old Man Mitchell’s Kitchen are a bunch of giant comic book nerds so we had to assemble the gang for trip to the theater.  We’re also a bunch of cheap skates who hate crowds.  A Sunday Matinee was the only logical choice for screening times.  The movie was awesome and I’ll most likely see it again before it leaves the theater.  The characterize was great, the action was amazing and for the first time on the big screen the Hulk special effects looked good.  Between this and Cabin in the Woods, I really wish Joss Whedon would write every movie.


The only problem with seeing a two and half hour movie in the middle of the day, it eats up a good chunk of your day.  Once we got back home it was already time to start dinner.  Knowing that was going to be the case I picked a really easy and fast meal to make, Sweet Spicy Steak with Jasmine Rice and Ginger Sugar Snap Peas.


I found the inspiration for the steak recipe on Food Networks website.


As is my nature, I tinkered as I went and made it my own.  This time out I found myself adding as much as I took out of the original.  The result was a flavorful but slightly overdone steak.  Next time I will cook it a little less or use a thicker cut of meat.

Sweet Spicy Steak:

What You Will Need:
  •   A London Broil Steak (about 1.5 pounds)
  •   3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  •     2 Tablespoons of Hot Paprika
  •     2 Tablespoons of Ginger
  •     2 Tablespoons of Honey
  •     2 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar
  •     1 Tablespoon of Kosher Salt
  •     1 Tablespoons of Curry Powder
  •     1 Lime, zested
  •     A broiling pan

  1.        Max all of your spice, oil and honey (basically everything but the steak) into a bowl to make a paste
  2.        Lather the paste on both sides of the steak, reserve about a third of the paste to use as a sauce while serving
  3.        Broil for about 5min a side (less for a rare steak), don’t leave on too long or the honey in the paste will burn
  4.        Put the steak on a cutting board and let rest under tinfoil for 5 to 10 minutes
  5.        Cut and serve, put a little of the paste on the plate as a nice dipping sauce

The decision to make the Ginger Sugar Snap Peas was made on the ride home from movies.  Originally we wanted to make Garlic Sugar Snap Peas, but when I started to cook I realized we used all the garlic up last weekend.  So as Laura put it “we switched to the next best thing.”  The peas turned out OK.  The ginger gave them a great tasted, but I used too much oil and I overcooked them a bit.  Also they sat for a bit before the steak was done resting.  If you make this be sure to wait till the steak is just about done resting before you start the peas.

Ginger Sugar Snap Pea:

What You Will Need:
  •  Handful of fresh Sugar Snap Peas
  •  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  •  1 Tablespoon of Ginger
  •  A medium sauce pan

  1.       Put just enough oil in the pan to lightly cover the bottom
  2.       Add the ginger to the pan
  3.       Put the pan on high heat
  4.       Cook the ginger until it starts to fry up and change color
  5.       Add your peas
  6.       Cook for no more than a minute, just enough to get the pea warm and infuse the ginger flavor.

Despite the minor cooking hiccups all of the flavors really played well together and was a nice tasty meal.  As a testament of that there were no left overs, on even the end bits of steak.  I think that with a tweak or two the paste would work well as a Bar-B-Q sauce on skinned chicken thigh.  I’ll be trying that out later this summer.


One other thing I want to talk about before I go is Ginger.  I use it in a lot of dishes; however I have never really had luck with fresh Ginger.  I find often when I buy it from the store and cut into the Ginger has an odd blue color and wired texture. To my mind these pieces have clearly gone bad.  So either the store keeps Ginger way too long or I’m crap at picking out Ginger.  Both are most likely true, but I have found a solution.  Some of the stores near me sell this Ginger in a tube.  This stuff is great.  You can buy a ton of it and stick in the freezer and know that you will have good “fresh” Ginger when you need it.  Also I find it save a ton of time as you don’t need to cut it.  An added bonus, it dissolves into sauces really nicely.

That all for this week

Until next time, get the hell out of my Kitchen.

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