My online dictionary defines “mishmash” as “a jumble of unrelated or disorganized things,” which could also serve as a description of this week’s recipe. I’m generally against fusion recipes, things like Jerk Foie Gras or Blackened Fish Tacos or Fettucine Alfredo with wasabi (yes, these are actual dishes from real restaurants), but sometimes necessity forces you into making some choices that are against your principles.
What I mean is that there are times you find yourself hunched over the refrigerator at 8 o’clock at night with a fierce hunger in your stomach and nothing in the refrigerator but a jumble of unrelated or disorganized things.
My wife and I concocted the following recipe, which might be described as Peruvian/Japanese/Vietnamese/Hungarian fusion, out of the following ingredients: leftover takeout rare-beef pho, including some garnishes from the Styrofoam container; Peruvian chile-lime seasoning, which Savory Spice blends and has become my favorite all-purpose seasoning; Kewpie mayonnaise, a Japanese mayo that is a favorite of sushi bars; an old, neglected bottle of cider vinegar; and a slice of sourdough bread from the freezer.
We sprinkled the thinly sliced beef with the seasoning (which includes powdered kaffir lime leaves, chiles, cumin, salt and a mess of other spices), stir-fried it over high heat, added some thinly sliced onions and scallions, deglazed the pan with some apple-cider vinegar (also an ingredient in the mayonnaise) and the pho broth and finished the stir fry with a little of the mayonnaise added off the heat (a trick my mother-in-law, Rosa, taught my wife).
The finished product, heaped on a piece of toasted sourdough, tasted vaguely like beef stroganoff — at first I thought my wife had added some sour cream to it — but it was delicious, moist and full of tangy flavor. It just didn’t look good on paper.
Stir Fry of Beef on Toast With Japanese Mayonnaise
Serves 4 as a light lunch.
Ingredients
4 slices sourdough bread
2 teaspoons Peruvian chile-lime seasoning (available at Savory Spice)
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons canola oil
12 ounces top round, top sirloin or chuck flap, cut into 2-inch-by-1-inch-by-¼-inch-thick slices½ cup thinly sliced yellow onions
¼ cup thinly sliced scallions
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ cup chicken broth or pho broth
2 tablespoons Kewpie mayonnaise
Directions
Preheat broiler or toaster oven. Toast the bread.
Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Season the meat with seasoning blend and the salt. Add the oil to the pan. When the oil is smoking, add the meat and cook until lightly browned and still medium rare inside.
Remove the meat to a platter and add the onions and scallions. Cook 30 seconds and deglaze with the vinegar and broth. When the liquid is thick, remove the pan from the heat, add the meat back to the pan and stir in the mayonnaise.
Divide the stir fry among the 4 slices of bread and serve immediately.
