Beef & Green Bean Stir Fry

So after 4 nights of eating leftovers (and that’s not even counting freezing the soup) from the farmer’s market spree, I still have veggies in the fridge. What fun would it be to take all that produce to work to share with others when I can make a stir fry! (I’m really catching on quick to these recipes that use up lots of veggies in one meal.)

The green beans (my favorite vegetable besides potatoes) looked perfect and I couldn’t resist buying a bagful for $2. The green beans from Whole Foods are organic, but the times I’ve bought them, they’re not “snappy” and they’re too skinny. These were nice, plump, crispy things that made a lovely, loud snapping sound when I tore their little ends off.

So I couldn’t resist a good green bean stir fry. I had bought a top round steak this past weekend and frozen it, so I thawed it out and got to chopping and slicing. I pretty much followed the recipe from Whole Foods exactly, except for a few veggie additions and a little snafu with the cornstarch, which I’ll explain later.


Beef & Green Bean Stir Fry
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon mild honey
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean steak, cut into cubes or thin slices
2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced very small
1 can of bamboo shoots
a few slivers of almonds
green onions
2 tablespoons expeller pressed peanut or sesame oil, divided
1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
cooked Jasmine rice or Japanese Soba noodles

Whisk together the tamari, wine, honey and garlic in large bowl. Add steak and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Blanch green beans in large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in heavy large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Drain meat well, reserving marinade. Add cornstarch to reserved marinade and stir until smooth; set aside.

Now here’s the part where I messed up. See, somehow a few weeks ago I was perusing the bulk foods section and remembered that several recipes I had been looking at called for cornstarch as a thickening agent. But actually, I didn’t really remember that. Instead I “remembered” cornmeal, and bought a whole bunch of it. Realizing my mistake before I actually added it to the stir fry, I opted for some unbleached white flour stirred into a little cold water. It worked fine in the recipe, but I ended up adding a lot more tamari at the end to thin it out a little.

Back to the recipe …

Add steak to wok or skillet and stir-fry until almost cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Add the other veggies and almonds. Stir-fry until crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Return beef to the skillet. Cook until the meat is done, another minute or two. Stir the reserved marinade and add to the skillet. Stir until sauce thickens and coats meat and vegetables, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Once again, yummy. If, like me, you’re not super crazy about crunchy green beans and carrots, cook it just a little longer than is called for. There was a lot of crunch going on, but it was very tasty. And, I even think the pictures came out nice this time.