Vietnamese-style Beef with garlic, black pepper, and lime

Back to the pasta dish that I dished last night. I was telling Jim what I blogged about the dish. He said well , you did not mention the entire kitchen full of pots and pans that I had to clean up. So I said I would tell you his pain, tonight. Tonight’s dish was fast and infinitely more tasteful with less time. This came from Fine Cooking, serves 4, but it is all gone. Jim served a wine from Uruguay; he called it a big red. It is called AMAT, 2004. It was excellent with the meal. I served with rice and iceberg lettuce if you wanted to make a wrap.
Ingredients:
2T soy sauce
2T fresh lime juice, 1 lime
1 ½ T light brown sugar
1 T fish sauce
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T peanut or canola oil
Salt and pepper
1 ½ # beef tri-tip or tenderloin cut in ¾” pieces. I was not going to use tenderloin. Have you ever been to a Chinese, Vietnamese or other oriental restaurant outside of NYC that you felt you were being served fillet? The butcher recommended beef brisket cut against the grain. I bought a whole one and cut it in ¼” slices, trimmed the fat, and cut in 2” long pieces. It worked fine.
1 medium yellow onion (I used Vidalia) sliced into 1/4” wedges
3T chopped salted peanuts, preferably toasted. Unknown to me, Max and Jim finished the peanuts last night. We used cashews.
2 scallions, both green and white parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Directions:
1. Be careful here as you need two small bowls. In one combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, and fish sauce. Stir until the sugar combines.
2. In the second bowl, combine the garlic, 1 ¼ t oil, and 1 ¼ t pepper
3. Season the beef with salt and pepper. In a 12”wock, heat 1 1/2t oil and add ½ the beef in a single layer and cook, without stirring until well browned, about 2 minutes. This electric stove took longer. Turn and do the other side. Do again with the other half of the beef. Transfers all to a medium size bowl in between the first half and the second half.
4. Put the remaining 1 ½ t oil in the skillet and heat until shimmering hot. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften, 3 minutes. Add the garlic mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the beef and the accumulated juices to the pan and stir to combine. Add the soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring constantly until the beef and onions are coated and the sauce thickens slightly, 3 minutes.
5. Cook rice and serve on a platter with the rice below and top with the scallions and peanuts.
This meal was definitely worth it. Tomorrow we are grilling the rest of the brisket in a smoker. Stay tuned.