While the Rick's away, the mushrooms will play!

Well, sort of anyway!!!

As I've lamented here before, Rick is not a fan of mushrooms, and since he is out of town this weekend, I decided that my meal tonight would include mushrooms. For some reason, I was craving Korean Beef. Maybe it was the fact that I was in West Ashley yesterday but wasn't there around dinner time so that I could swing by Red Orchid. Ever since Rick and I went there with Nick and his girlfriend, Haley, I have occasional longings for their Korean Beef. Unfortunately for me, that is quite a drive for food so I've been trying my best to duplicate their dish! This version is somewhat similar to bulgogi. Honestly, I pretty much just use it for the sauce/marinade.

Tonight, I had to do something that I've never done before: I had to toast sesame seeds. Unfortunately for me, Publix does not sell toasted ones. It was actually pretty simple to do. I just preheated my oven to 325F, put them in a small cast iron skillet, and toasted them until they were a golden brown. The total time was around 18 minutes. In the picture of the meal that I posted, I think I got a little bit carried away with them, though!

Of course, I had to tinker with the sauce a bit. On its own, it is a wee-bit salty (even when I use low sodium soy sauce). To cut that a bit, I added 2 tablespoons of Mirin (which can be purchased at the grocery store near the soy sauce). Since I didn't have any fresh ginger, I used ground (and 1/4 tsp = 1 tsp fresh). I also doubled the amount of garlic.

In order to save some time, I purchased a little over a pound of pre-sliced, stir-fry beef and marinated that for around 30 minutes or so while the rice cooked. I doubled the marinade so that I could also marinate one chopped green pepper, 1/2 of a sweet onion (also chopped) and 4 oz of sliced mushrooms. I actually halved the marinade and marinated the veggies and the meat separate. I like doing the veggies instead of bothering with the lettuce boats. Use whatever vegetables you'd like!

I stir-fried the veggies in my wok and then added the beef. They would've been good on the grill, but it was damp out after the evening rain. Before serving it, I made another batch of my doctored marinade to serve over the food when I plated it. Delicious!!!


Here is the original recipe:

Korean-Styled Grilled Flank Steak

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha (Southeast Asian chile sauce)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
• 1 to 1 1/4 pound flank steak
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

• Accompaniments: white rice; soft leaf lettuce

Directions

Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sriracha, sugar, and sesame oil.

Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-high heat.

Oil grill rack, then grill steak, covered, turning over once, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer steak to a cutting board and drizzle with 2 tablespoons sauce, then let stand, uncovered, 5 minutes. Thinly slice steak across the grain. Serve with remaining sauce, scallions, and sesame seeds.

Changes that I made to the marinade

• added 2 tablespoons of Mirin
  
• used low sodium soy sauce
• used two cloves of garlic
• substituted ground ginger for fresh
• doubled it in order to use with vegetables

Other changes:

• Stir-fried 1/2 onion, green pepper (both chopped), and 4 oz of sliced mushrooms
• Also stir-fried meat due to weather
• Used stir-fry meat instead of flank steak
• Made another batch of the sauce/marinade to put over meat

Recipe for toasted sesame seeds:
Preheat oven to 325F.

Place untoasted sesame seeds in a small cast iron skillet, and toasted them in the oven until they were a golden brown. The total time was around 15-20 minutes.