Stir Fry Saturday: Beef With Peppers

This was a last minute recipe I found on Punkfork, my new favorite recipe aggregate. The site collects recipes from a good selection of national food blogs and aggregates them into a really pretty website with lots of nice tiled photos. You can search by ingredients or popularity. The following was from Pioneer Woman:

Beef with Peppers
Pioneer Woman

• 1½ pound Flank Steak, Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain
• ½ cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 3 Tablespoons Sherry
• 2 Tablespoons Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Red Chile Paste (or A Few Dashes Red Chile Oil)
• 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 1 whole Medium Yellow Onion Sliced
• 2 whole Red Bell Peppers, Cored And Sliced Into Rings
• 1 Tablespoon Diced Fresh Jalapeno (or 1 Teaspoon Dice Hot Pepper)
• Red Pepper Flakes, For Sprinkling
• Cilantro Leaves

1. Mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, ginger, garlic, and chili paste (or chili oil.) Place sliced beef in the mixture and toss to coat. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high to high heat. When it is very hot, throw in the onions and cook for less than a minute. Remove to a separate plate. Return skillet to flame, allow to reheat, and add bell peppers (and hot pepper/jalapeno if using.) Cook for a minute, tossing, until peppers have brown/black bits but are still firm. Remove to a plate.
3. Return skillet to heat and allow to get hot. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Add 1/3 of the meat mixture, evenly distributing over the surface of the skillet. Allow to sit for 20 to 30 seconds, then turn with tongs. Cook for another 30 seconds, then remove to a separate plate. Repeat with remaining meat until all brown.
4. Reduce heat to low. Add all meat, onions, and peppers to the skillet and toss to combine. Pour in remaining sauce (the sauce the meat marinated in*) and stir. Allow to simmer on low for a few minutes. Sauce will slowly thicken. Turn off heat.

Day 2: Bok Choy, Shitaki Mushroom & Tofu

in a white miso paste

So I've never prepared tofu, and after a few internet searches, found this one the most informative. Tuesday night I pressed the tofu for about an hour, while I used this recipe from Alicia for the marinate:

1 Tbl white miso paste (can find at whole foods refrigerated near the tofu)

1 tsp mirin

1 tsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp honey (possibly more if it's a little too salty)

a few spritzes of seasame oil, like 1/2 tsp worth

I marinated the tofu for 24 hours in this sauce, and then came home and threw everything into my pan. Bok Choy first, for 10 minutes, then I added the Shitaki mushrooms, and then finally the tofu (my mistake, i feel...). I prepared rice to go along with the veggies, but ended up throwing everything into the pot together to create more of a rice dish with tofu sticks.

The photos make it look awesome, but sadly, I was less impressed with the meal. First of all: I need a wok. That pan was not cutting it, and definitely didn't sear the tofu enough for it to not taste like scrambled eggs (sadly, when i eat tofu, that's the taste I usually get in my mouth..) Second, I apparently should try to freeze the tofu--because that makes it taste more like meat. Finally, cooking it alone instead of dumping it into a pan should help.

So I'm not giving up, but I can't do my general "throw everything in a pan and let it turn to awesomeness' method of cooking. Looks like I'll actually need to follow step-by-step recipes for the second half of the tofu block I saved....any suggestions?