Beef Bulgogi

I talk to my mom every morning. She's one of those amazing people who just doesn't stop so I joke that if I don't call her before she gets going I'll never get in touch with her. She's sort of like a very controlled Tasmanian Devil, all of the energy without the havoc. Anyway, we chat about this and that but she almost always asks me what I'm going to have for dinner that night. At least half of the time I have no idea what I'm going to have but often I'll give her an update on what I made the night before. When I was telling her about this dinner I could not, for the life of me, remember what on earth it was called. I was trying to describe it and the best I could come up with is "this Korean beef dish, I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, beef something-or-other, I think it starts with a K?, maybe a G?, a B? And my mom was sitting at her computer trying desperately to find the recipe as I'm telling her: "oh, it's super simple, you just add beef and soy sauce, some garlic and some chili sauce and mix it all up." And give my mom an A for effort, when she couldn't find the recipe online (because it's Pork Bulgogi online, Beef Bulgogi in the Everyday Food Fast Cookbook) she followed my incoherent, inane directions and made "Beef Something-or-Other" for dinner that night.

The Beef Bulgogi is delicious and its definitely true to the Everyday Food Fast idea. I got this together in 30 minutes before class and I cooked it in about 20 minutes after class. It tastes fantastic and I'm sure that pork, chicken, shrimp, or just vegetables could be used in place of beef. The original recipe doesn't call for bean sprouts or red bell pepper but I had some of both in the refrigerator and I decided to throw them in.

Beef Bulgogi
Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food: Great Food Fast Cookbook

• 4 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons ginger, freshly grated
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 pound flank steak, very thinly sliced crosswise (it helps if you freeze it for 15 minutes)
• 1 large onion, cut into 12 wedges
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, combine garlic cloves, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, crushed red pepper, ginger, and ground pepper.
2. Add flank steak and onion wedges (also peppers if you use them); marinate at least 10 minutes (I marinated mine for a few hours).
3. In a 12-inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. In three batches, brown pork and onion, 3 to 5 minutes per batch. Discard marinade.
4. Return all pork and onion to skillet; cook until warm. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, if desired.

The recipe states that this dish is traditionally served with lettuce leaves to wrap up the beef in. I didn't have any lettuce that was big or sturdy enough to do this so I served it over rice. It tastes wonderful and it's indredibly simple to make; I know that this will be a repeat recipe.