After Angélique’s pasta alla norma and Constance’s entire meal paired with Klein Constantia’s Vin de Constance, it’s Elsa’s turn to share her lockdown recipe! Yet again this week, we’re taking you on a gastronomic journey, this time to Asia and its delicious flavours.
Having had to cancel my holiday to Asia booked for May, I wanted to ‘get away’, in any which way! Being confined in a small Parisian apartment isn’t always easy, and cooking provides the perfect escapism. We took our senses on a journey to Asia, with this beef and pepper stir fry. A super simple and quick recipe, made with noodles (we imagine you’ve stocked up!) and vegetables to keep it balanced and healthy 😉
Ingredients
For 4 people:
350g noodles
250g beef (rumpsteak, faux filet, entrecôte)
1 red pepper
5 leaves of Chinese cabbage (or 2 pak choi)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small piece of ginger, minced
4 soup spoons of sweet soy sauce
3 soups spoons of nuoc mam sauce
1 soup spoon of chili paste (or 2 pinches of chili powder)
1 pinch of Chinese five spice
Freshly ground pepper (preferably Sichuan)
A handful of crushed peanuts
Coriander leaves
Method
Bring a pan of water to the boil for the noodles. Chop all of your ingredients: the beef into thin slices, the pepper into strips, the Chinese cabbage into small pieces. Crush the garlic and ginger. Cook your noodles and remove them from the pan when they are still al dente (they will continue to cook when you stir fry them). Refer to the cooking time on the packet, generally 3-4 minutes.
Heat a little oil in a wok and sauté the vegetables for 2-3 minutes with the garlic and ginger. Add the meat and let it brown for a few minutes before adding the sauces (soy and nuoc mam), and the spices. Leave to reduce for 30 seconds. Add the noodles and sauté everything together. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve the noodles in shallow bowls, sprinkle with crushed peanuts, coriander and Sichuan pepper. And there you have it!
The good thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand depending on the season (carots, white cabbage, and leek work well).
Wine pairings
As you probably know, it can be difficult to find the right wine pairing for Asian cuisine!
This particular dish is spicy and slightly sweet-and-salty. We would therefore recommend southern red wines that are relativaly powerful, spicy and offer good warmth. Look to appellations such as Bandol, Languedoc-Roussillon, Rhône (especially the southern Rhône) and even Corsican wines, such as Patrimonio. The most important thing is to find a wine that has good length and presence, to counterbalance the strength of the soy and nuoc mam sauces. The tannins in a red wine will pair well with the rare meat. Our top three wines for this dish would be: a Bandol from Domaine Tempier, a Terrasses-du-Larzac from Domaine Montcalmès or a Patrimonio from Domaine Arena.
Bon appétit!
