There are a lot of things I love about living in Texas, and lots of foods I love eating in Texas, but there is one (of a couple things) that I can not get here that just kills me: Chinese Take-Out.
When I lived in New York growing up, we could get it anywhere really. Every town had at least two different places, and truthfully, they tasted the same, the menus were the same, and they were perfect.
My asian-take-out game stepped up a few notches when I moved to San Francisco in college - suddenly, there wasn't just chinese. There was Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Pan-Asian, Asian-Indian, the list goes on. SO. MUCH. GOOD. FOOD. And, it was all take-out.
Such simple beauty in just calling it in, picking it up, boarding a cold, wet, smelly, MUNI bus, sitting in a cold, hard seat smelling it's delicious aroma through its Styrofoam encasement, and finally walking up three flights of stairs to your apartment, flopping down on your bed and devouring take-out perfection with a plastic fork and trashy TV.
Beauty like this does not exist in Austin, Texas. Sorry, Austin, but take-out is not your forte. The only thing I could order for delivery to my house when I first moved here was Pizza. That was it. And even if I wanted to venture out and drive to get it myself, there was ONE decent Chinese place and it was so far away, it wasn't worth the effort.
Four years of missing Chinese later and I stumble upon this recipe from Table for Two and everything changed. A little tinkering on getting it right, and before I knew it, I could close my eyes and pretend I was eating it out of a cardboard contained with plastic fork, and I wouldn't be the wiser.
I am still missing my Chicken Lo Mein, but man, this hits the spot for beef and broccoli any day.
New York Style Beef and Broccoli
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. boneless beef roast, sliced into thin strips
- 2-3 cups beef broth
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tbs. sesame oil
- 2 tbs. garlic powder
- 1 tbs. corn starch
- 3 tbs. flour
- Broccoli florets, large bag, frozen
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Cut the strips of beef in to 1-inch pieces. Set aside.
In the bowl of a crockpot, whisk together 2 cups of beef broth, the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic powder. Add the meat to the bowl and toss to coat.
If there is not enough liquid to cover the meat, add just enough broth to ensure the meat is all covered. Sometimes the roast I am able to buy is heavier than 2 lbs, but not to waste I just use it all - in this case I adjust my liquid appropriately.
Cook on high for 5 hours (or until meat is cooked to your preference, I like it very tender to a fork). Keep in mind with crock pot cooking times, that all crock pots vary greatly depending on how large the capacity is and your cooking temp options. Check your your meat as it cooks and when it is done, its done, don't fret over what the recipe says.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and flour. Whisk in 4 tbs. of the broth from the crock pot to form a paste. Stir this paste back into the crock pot and allow the sauce to thicken for 20 minutes.
After the sauce has thickened a bit, add in the desired amount of frozen broccoli florets. I happen to love broccoli so I put in an entire bag, but its entirely up to you. Stir, re-cover the crock pot and let the broccoli heat through (about five minutes).
Serve over rice immediately.