After this weekend’s food-fest, I needed something for dinner that would live up to my (now) very high standards. But I equally needed something moderately healthy, as a result of this weekend’s food-fest.
While brainstorming, burgergal asked me what ingredient I wanted to use. Recently, when I think healthy, I think quinoa. But a big plate of quinoa wasn’t exactly going to cut it. I also needed some ramps in there (obviously). What else… some mushrooms maybe? That would be good, really good. But for some reason, and this never happens, I wanted red meat, not in the form of a hamburger. I wanted sirloin. Beefy, chewy sirloin.
Putting together the building blocks in my head, I settled on a mish-mosh of ingredients that I thought would work together: mushroom and ramp quinoa with seared sirloin and pickled ramps. I know, I know, I just re-listed everything that I wrote above. But the combination was so tasty that I decided I had to give the gift to you, the readers.
I started out by putting a quick marinade together: a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, about a teaspoon of sugar, three ramp leaves, cut into strips, minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and a few cracks of pepper. I had bought a really cheap piece of top sirloin for about two bucks and cut it into some thin pieces, like you’d use for a cheesesteak. I tossed them in the marinade and let them hang out for about an hour while I went to the gym to get my Spin on (I’m addicted).
I came back and put a 1/2 cup of quinoa on the stove with a cup of water and some ramp leaves (sensing a trend?). Once it came to the boil, I reduced the heat and covered it. Quinoa, done.
Meanwhile, I cleaned about a cup of mushrooms… I went with a mix of shiitake and cremini. I also diced up another clove of garlic and did a chiffonade of ramp leaves. That was pretty much it– the rest was just assembly.
I fired up the wok until it was scorching hot, and threw in the beef. After it was nice and browned up, I took it out and placed it aside. I added a little bit of fresh oil to the pan and added the mushrooms and sauteed those until they were cooked through. Just for some kicks, I threw a dried chili in there. Why not ,right?
Continue reading ‘I just couldn’t stop myself. A rare step by step.’
