Trying Stirring Frying

In all my running about yesterday, I somehow managed to make dinner (though I neglected to clean up) and for the first time ever in my life I cooked steak (sort of). It's not steak in the traditional sense. I didn't fire up the grill--instead I sliced a ribeye into a manageable amount of meat for one sitting-plus-leftovers and made a stir fry. I started watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC, saw him make a chicken stir fry and practically started drooling. (That show is fascinating, btw.)

I admit I was pretty freaked out to be cooking steak. I had a strong aversion to it when I was younger--it just looked so gross to me, though now I think its ribbons of fat and flesh are beautiful. My mom always cooked steaks medium-well to well done, making them pretty tough/practically charred (sorry mom). (She also does this to hamburgers.) I never like steak until I realized I just like steak medium to medium-rare, but cooking it myself, I was a tad nervous I'd make myself sick. In fact, even while I was eating I was like, "oh, does my stomach hurt? Am I OK?" Don't worry, I survived.

Beef-vegetable Stir Fry: from Jamie Oliver

2 cups dry egg noodles (ramen would be good, just without the seasoning)

12 ounces steak, thinly sliced

vegetable oil

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

sesame oil

soy sauce

lime juice

handul baby corns, halved (I freaking love baby corns!)

handful snow peas, chopped (I love these almost as much as baby corns)

handful shiitake mushrooms, chopped (I just now remembered I bought these expressly for this meal and didn't even use them, dang it!)

6 spring onions, chopped

cilantro to garnish

Heat the oil in a skillet or wok. Toss in the steak, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes when the oil is hot. Sear the outside of the steak (or cook according to your preferences). Once the garlic and steak has browned, toss in a few good glugs each of sesame oil, soy sauce and lime juice. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to the directions.

Return skillet to heat and add some more vegetable oil. Toss in the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes, until they're heated through but not limp. Once the noodles and vegetables are finished combine the two in the skillet and toss to coat noodles with oil. Serve the vegetables and noodles then top each plate with the beef and sauce.