That, friends, is a skillet full of this beef and broccoli recipe. I actually have made this once before, with pretty good results, but this time was awesome-er by far. You see, I love broccoli…but not raw broccoli. The recipe calls for you to just stir fry the florets before adding the beef, which I did the first time. Husband ate it but I found the veggies just a little too…crispy. So this time, I busted out my $1.99 Target brand microwave steamer and steamed the broccoli before adding it to the already stir-fried meat and sauce.
Brilliant.
The broccoli was soft and soaked up the sauce much more efficiently, IMO. The beef really only takes an hour to marinate (trust me on this one) to tender perfect, and it really does only take about 6 to 8 minutes to cook everything into a steaming skillet of Chinese food inspired perfection.
Now, one thing that may be confusing if you’ve never cooked with flank steak before is when a recipe says to “cut across the grain.” This is absolutely necessary when cooking with this cut of beef. While you may think, “oh, the meat already has lines running across it…that must be the way this works!” you’re absolutely wrong. Cutting with the grain will result in awfully chewy steak, not good eats. So, when it says to cut across the grain, use your knife perpendicular to the striations you can clearly see in the steak. Slice it as thin as you can for quick marinating and cooking and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts!
Based on my rice cooking abilities, we just had the beef and broccoli, but this would be even more “Chinese Restaurant-ish” if you made up some white or fried rice to go along with it!
The Oliver's Twist 