Week #28 of my “52 In 22” cooking challenge started with this teaser photo, which I shared several weeks ago to see if anyone had an idea of what I was up to…the responses were inspired, hilarious and all wrong – because Ming Tsai’s brilliant “Blue Ginger” Restaurant and Cookbook has “east meets west” cooking with the acclaimed Chef!
I know Ming personally, and he is a terrific, passionate Chef – so I couldn’t wait to take this massively sliced piece of beef and give it that “Chef Ming touch, thanks to his great “Blue Ginger” cookbook – based on recipes from his acclaimed restaurant, which close a few years ago after a twenty year run near Boston!
Time To Make Gingered Beef With Asparagus And Leek!
This dish is fairly easy to make, it’s all about some specific preparation ahead of time.
Here’s everything you need for the dish:
1 pound flank steak
1 pound asparagus
4 medium leeks
2 garlic cloves
1 tbl sesame oil
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 bulb fresh ginger
salt and pepper to taste
First, let’s begin by getting that flank steak marinated!
In a dish big enough to hold the steak, add 6 thin slices of fresh ginger with the soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, pepper and dry sherry.
Now…do you remember this shot?
Well, the recipe called for a single pound of beef but when I got home from the store, this is what was in the package – 2 full pounds of flank steak, packaged up in one long strip!
So, I doubled the marinate recipe and massaged it into the meat, making sure to completely coat all of it, then I covered it and stored it in the refrigerator – you can do this an hour or more before cooking the dish.
While the beef marinates, it’s time to prep our asparagus!
Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil, trim the ends off of the asparagus and then slice them into two piece chunks…once boiling, put the asparagus in for 4-5 minutes…take it out sooner if you want it with more of a bite…
Put the cooked asparagus into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process, drain and set aside….now, on to the leeks!
Remove the green ends and the then julienne the leeks. Heat the wok, add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Then add the leeks, garlic and ginger and cook for 3 minutes…
As you can see, I decided to zest the ginger for extra flavor and I’m glad I did! Now it’s time for the meat!
Take the beef out of the marinade and slice against the grain into 1/8″ slices…
Add the meat to the leeks and wok for 3-4 minutes…it’s fun and smells great as well!
Now, add the asparagus back in and keep the wok sizzling:
It literally only takes a few minutes to combine all of the flavors…I snuck in just a bit more of the marinade and it added even more richness to the dish!
I made a side of fried rice to go with the dish, and I added the remaining marinade, and the rice absorbed all of the flavor!
That’s it, the dish is done!
I have to say that this dish is absolutely delicious! I have become a huge fan of meat dishes that use beef or chicken as a small part of the dish, and with the leeks and asparagus, this feels healthy and fresh.
Our close friends Nicole and Bill came over to sample it as well, and they happily posed behind the dish because they loved it!
I will say one more time that the fried rice is a great side dish to have with it!
I enjoyed this dish a lot and it was quite easy to make – a far cry from the 3 day preparation for this dish:
This “Sous Vide Lobster” dish took 3 days for some very unique reasons – click here to find out what those are, beginning with the fact the recipe came from iconic Chef Thomas Keller:
Some of my recipes have been easier than that, but I’ve also tried to push myself with more challenging dishes like this:
This is a “Duck Pancetta Mustard Cabbage Pie” – all from scratch and delicious!
See how Made it here:
In addition to my “52 In 22” cooking challenge, I also share lots of other food news and recipes here as well, like this amazing innovation – created by empowered women in college!
Yes, it’s edible “burrito tape!”
Never lose your filling again!
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Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
This looks delicious, John.
It was Robbie and easy too!