Black Pepper Beef Over Onions

Tonight I tried my hand at a dish that's a staple at many home style Chinese restaurants: black pepper beef on a bed of onions.


It came out really well! This dish is a great way to stretch a steak. And more so than a simple seared steak, it invites healthy side dishes like a bowl of rice and plenty of vegetables. We finished up our fish soup from yesterday, with the addition of a lot of napa and mushrooms.

J liked this enough that I thought I'd to my first photo tutorial in awhile. For two people, cut one ribeye steak into large cubes--slightly bigger than half an inch per side works well if you like medium rare. Cut the cubes smaller if you like well done meat. Slice up half a medium onion and soak in iced water before you begin. This will take a little of the bite out of the onion and make it very crispy. Drain well and put onto a plate after you start cooking the beef.

Meanwhile, get a pan searing hot. A cast iron is perfect, or use a Calphalon like I did. When the pan's as hot as it'll get, throw in the cubed steak. As usual, this will work best if you've let the meat warm up to close to room temperature.

Sear the meat on all sides, turning as soon as it's browned. Work quickly or you'll get overcooked meat. Meanwhile, combine a heaping tablespoon of black pepper sauce, a pinch of sugar, and about a tablespoon of water. When you're searing the last sides of the cubes, create a well in the center of the pan and pour in the sauce. Mix it around a little until it starts bubbling, then turn off the stove and use the residual heat from the pan to coat the meat with the sauce. It's important the heat the sauce before you coat the meat with it, because both the pepper and soy sauce in the sauce are flavors that come out when they're heated. A warmed sauce will also be sticker and therefore coat better. Heap the hot beef onto the raw onions and serve.

This was our after dinner TV snack: wheat bread and some cheese called Queso Leonora. Hey, Heroes Night deserves nothing but the best!

I bought myself the gift of skincare today. I usually just buy Cerave, but I've seen this brand a few times and finally could not resist the carrots. This brand has a refreshingly old fashioned scent to it. It reminds me of the lanolin lotions from my childhood. Plus, I'm a sucker for dead sea minerals. One of the most memorable soaps I've ever used is a bar of dead sea soap a friend brought back from Israel. Yes to Carrots is from Israel; maybe I should start sniffing their bar soaps.

And finally, some shameless bragging. Look! My muscle definition is slowly returning! Now, for the cardio. As I type this, I'm trying to convince myself to go for a morning jog. I need to get back to pre-September fitness standards before Thanksgiving rolls around and I decide to be about as active as a stuffed turkey.