Not Really Leftover Beef Stir-Fry with Bell Peppers

Since my husband and I moved to Maine in July 2011and "officially' became "empty-nesters" (except I guess we flew the coop!), I have become quite adept at scaling back recipes to serve two (or maybe 3-4 if I wanted leftovers). For years, I scaled recipes "up" to feed our family of five plus have enough for friends, in-laws, parents, etc. who so often joined us for dinner. Leftovers seem to have such a negative connotation; there are certainly two camps - those who love them and those who toss them. Just look at this blog. I will admit that I fall in the camp of loving leftovers, however..... I often will create a new recipe to make use of them (hmmm.... so does that still make them leftovers or makeovers?) 
So, where am I going with this? Well, tonight's recipe actually was prepared using leftover (rare) Eye of Round. You can only buy a roast so small.... Recognizing that not everyone has a half roast in their fridge, you can also make this dish using top sirloin. The other awesome tidbit to share is that this dish was on the table in 20 minutes (and that was due to the cooking time of the rice!)


Serves 4 (Cut in half if you abhor leftovers!)

INGREDIENTS

•          1 pound top sirloin** (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick)
•          Freshly ground black pepper
•          1 large garlic clove, minced
•          Olive oil
•          1 large green bell pepper, sliced into 1/4-inch strips (feel free to also use red and/or yellow peppers)
•          1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
•          1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Season the beef with pepper and rub minced garlic over them, both sides. Place the steaks between two sheets of plastic wrap. With a meat pounder, pound the steaks to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut them across the grain in 1/2-inch wide strips. 

**NOTE: I actually used leftover Eye of Round Roast that I had cooked. The meat was still rare so I was not concerned with it becoming overcooked. I sliced the meat into 1/4-inch slabs, and sliced those again into 1/4-inch strips. This is a great use of leftover roast beef!

2. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the sliced onions and bell peppers, and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. (This is just long enough to make them tender but not soggy). Transfer the vegetables to a bowl and cover with aluminum foil or a lid to keep warm.

3. Heat an additional 1 Tablespoon of oil in the skillet on medium high heat, for 1 minute. Add the strips of beef and let them brown on one side for 1 minute, then use a spatula to stir them and brown the other side. Cook for another minute (the meat will be medium rare, so keep cooking if you like your beef more well done). Add back the vegetables and add the Worcestershire sauce. Cook for another minute, stirring with a spatula. Serve with steamed rice. (I used Jasmine.) Enjoy!

Tomorrow night: What's cooking? Join me for a meal that I'll be be cooking on my Himalayan salt block. It's fun, unique, hot, and deeee-lish!