Clementine Beef Stir-Fry

Clementines are pretty much the greatest. They’re like, all the things you like about oranges, without the things you don’t (like the hard-to-peel peel). And they are small so you can have two without feeling like a piggy. I like to take them to work for a healthy snack/paperweight. But, one thing that drives me crazy is that it seems like you can only buy them in crates. It’s difficult, in fact nearly impossible, for me to eat an entire crate of clementines before they start to go bad. So, I was pretty excited to see this recipe for clementine beef stir-fry on the Daisy’s World blog. She called it spicy but it really didn’t turn out spicy in the least so I eliminated that from my name. But it was delicious! And if you top it with some clementine zest, that flavor really comes through. They were just a little sweet with some saltiness and tanginess that was really nice and flavorful. She made hers with spinach but I used broccoli, and really you can use any veggie you like. I might add in some onions next time.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsps. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 pounds tri-tip, skirt or flank steak, sliced thinly

2 Tbsps. Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry Sherry

2 Tbsps. hoisin sauce

2 Tbsps. honey

1 Tbsp. Sriracha chili sauce

Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

3 Tbsps. soy sauce

1/3 cup freshly squeezed clementine juice

2 clementines, for zest

3 to 4 Tbsps. vegetable oil, as needed

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsps. fresh ginger, minced

6 oz. broccoli (or other veggie)

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Start by mixing up the soy sauce and cornstarch in a bowl. You want to mix well to break up the cornstarch (a whisk helps). Add the beef strips and mix before covering and refrigerating for 30 minutes. Next mix up your sauce in a small bowl. Whisk rice wine or sherry, hoisin, honey, Sriracha, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, clementine juice and the zest of one clementine until combined. Set this aside for later.

Heat your oil on high in a pan or wok, and brown the beef. Work in small batches so you don’t crowd the pan. This makes sure your beef gets nice and browned. This is a dangerous step, since the oil is so hot it tends to spatter a lot. Be careful, and if you have to turn the heat down, the world will not end. Use a slotted spoon to move the beef to a plate and set aside.  

If you need more oil, add a little. We didn’t. Then add the garlic and ginger and cook about one minute. We definitely turned the heat down to medium for this because we didn’t want to burn the garlic. Add in the sauce mixture and cook until reduced and thickened which should take about 5 minutes or so. We added the broccoli back in after about two minutes because it will take a little longer than other veggies to soften up a little bit. After the sauce has thickened add the beef back into the pan for another minute, stirring to coat it in sauce. Serve over rice and garnish with clementine zest.