Steak Kew for two generous portions
One of our favorite dishes at Trey Yuen is Steak Kew. The sauce is rich but not too heavy, the vegetables are crisp but still cooked, and the flavor is just great. I was moved to take all the steak from various leftover containers in the refrigerator and craft my own version of this popular Asian dish. Leftovers from the week included Fish Amandine with mashed potatoes and green beans from Keith Young’s, Chicken Bonne Femme from Delmonico, and steak tips from a Cobb Salad on that same visit to Keith Young’s. There was brown rice in the pantry and purple onion and red bell pepper in a bowl on the counter. And some over-the-hill garlic.
1 red bell pepper
I purple onion
5 cloves garlic sliced lengthwise rather than chopped
1 cup mushrooms sliced coarsely
A handful of large green beans, cooked
2 cups of sliced or chopped cooked steak
2 T butter
2 T corn starch
⅓ cup soy sauce
3 cups brown rice prepared to package instructions
chopped green onions (optional)
Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
I heated a large skillet on high and a medium pot to boil half-filled with water. Add the rice after a rolling boil.
Then I sliced the red bell pepper and onion into large pieces like in Asain stir-fries and put them into a dry skillet with all the garlic I could find that wasn’t growing more garlic.
Then I robbed the Keith Young container of the green beans and rinsed them, adding it to the skillet. The Chicken Bonne Femme container offered mushrooms and lots of fresher garlic chopped. All these ingredients would stick to the dry pan and caramelize, so I did not even put in any olive oil, though it was my intention. The pan was deglazed with some water and soy sauce.
When the vegetables were softened but not really soft, I removed it all and put in the steak pieces I had chopped to the appropriated size for this dish. Again, I let it all sear before adding a tablespoon of butter and more soy sauce. I also salted and peppered the meat. And added some red pepper flakes.
Meanwhile, I melted another tablespoon of butter to which I added 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Gradually I spooned a serving spoon at a time of jus from the main skillet into the cornstarch butter blob and whisked it all together to thicken the sauce. When this mixture was well blended, I added the vegetables and cornstarch jus back into the main pain and stirred it all together, adding water if needed to the right consistency. Also more soy sauce.
I stirred into the rice a little fresh green onion out of the garden and poured the sauce around it.
