Beef and Mushroom stir fry

This is a dish that was born out of necessity. The other day, I was sent a voucher, as part of Tesco's The Orchard scheme, to try some of their hand cut beef steaks at a great discount, so I bought two of their budget sirloin steaks, normally priced at just £3 each and planned to serve them with chips that evening.

However Mark arrived home with toothache and didn't fancy biting into a steak, so I had to do some quick thinking and revise the menu. I trimmed the fat off the steaks and sliced them very thinly then made up a quick marinade for them to sit in while I prepared the onions and mushrooms that would have been served with our steak and chips. I put them all together into a quick stir fry, and served it with noodles.

The steak was tender and delicious; I wouldn't usually think of using sirloin in a stir fry but the finished dish would have made four takeaway-sized portions, so two £3 steaks is a reasonable outlay for such a quick, tasty dish.

I must say I was remarkably impressed with the quality of the meat. When choosing steak, I usually go for the top-of-the-range products thinking I will get better quality, but having tried these I can see I was mistaken! You can see from the photos that it is lightly marbled, which promises tenderness and flavour, yet with no gristly bits.

Here's the recipe - to serve 2-4 depending on what other dishes you are serving.

2 sirloin steaks

marinade:
1 tbs soy sauce (I used light, but you can use light or dark)
1 tbs groundnut or sunflower oil
1 tbs Chinese cooking wine (you can substitute dry sherry or Crabbies Green Ginger wine)
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

Whisk marinade ingredients together. Slice the steak into very thin strips about 1cm wide and 7cm long. Put them in the marinade and mix well (use your hands!) so the meat is evenly coated. Leave to stand for at least 5 minutes - half an hour is ideal.

to finish:
150g mushrooms - any type. I used portabellini because that's what was in the fridge
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced vertically
1 piece of fresh ginger about the size of the top 2 joints of your index finger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbs groundnut or sunflower oil
1 tbs Chinese cooking wine (or alternative)
2 tbs soy sauce
250ml beef stock
2 tsp cornflour, blended in a little cold water

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the onions and ginger, stir fry for 1 minute then add the meat, drained of any surplus marinade, and stir fry until  all pieces are browned. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic and continue to fry for another minute.

Splash in the wine, allow to sizzle for a few seconds then stir in the stock and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Simmer for a minute and then stir in the blended cornflour, stir until thickened and serve.

This makes no claim to authenticity but is quick, easy and tasty. I presented it in a Chinese serving bowl,  and we ate it with noodles, but it could equally well have ben served with rice, pasta or potatoes.