Ribeye Steaks and Chinese Long Beans

Thursday 4 August

Kroger's Supermarket has one nice feature: they often upgrade meats on sale a step (select to choice, for example), cut them extra thick, and sell them from a butcher's counter for only a buck more than the mingy sale packs.  That's how Barbara got an inch and a half well-marbled boneless ribeye for $7 a lb. yesterday, which Holt grilled up rare tonight.

She also got a spec purchase from the Northside Farmers' Market: a tress of slender Chinese Long Beans.  Most of the recipes we saw cut them up into two-inch lengths, but we couldn't believe that the Chinese would chop up a perfect longevity symbol that way.  

So Barbara winged it, and came up with this recipe:

Long Longbeans

1 hank of longbeans, ca. 1 lb., washed, dried, and ends trimmed

oil

1 big clove garlic, grated

1 equally big chunk ginger, grated

1 tsp. chopped dried red chiles (ours came from our Chimayo ristra)

salt

2 Tbsp. chicken water (from poaching) or broth

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Heat your wok to high and add oil; coil the longbeans into the bottom, add some salt, and start turning them with tongs.  Keep going until they're dark green and slightly blistered/brown, about 5 minutes; set aside.

Turn down heat to medium and stir-fry garlic, ginger, and chile.  Add the chicken water/broth and soy, then return the beans to wok, toss around in the liquid, cover, and lower heat.  Simmer until they're as tender as you like them.  Serve and slurp like spaghetti.