Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (42 page)

GARNISH

1
teaspoon vegetable oil
2 large green onions
1
cup bean sprouts

1. Make sauce by heating 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large saucepan over medium heat. Saute garlic and ginger in the hot oil for about 15 seconds being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the soy sauce, then dissolve cornstarch in the water and add the mixture to the pan. Add brown sugar, lemon juice and black pepper and bring mixture to a boil. Simmer for two minutes then remove it from the heat.

2. Coat all the shrimp generously with cornstarch. Let the shrimp sit for about five minutes so that the cornstarch will adhere better

3. Heat a cup of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and saute for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shrimp start to turn light brown. Strain the shrimp out of the oil with a slotted spoon or spider and dump oil. Replace shrimp back in the wok along with the lemon slices, saute for a minute, then add the sauce to the pan. Toss everything around to coat the shrimp thoroughly. Cook for another minute or so until the sauce thickens on the shrimp.

4. As the shrimp cooks, heat up I teaspoon of oil in a separate medium saucepan. Cut the green part of the green onions into 3-inch lengths. Add those green onion slices and bean sprouts to hot oil along with a dash of salt and pepper. Saute for a couple minutes until green onions begin to soften.

5. Build the dish by pouring the green onions and sprouts onto a serving plate. Dump the shrimp over the veggies and serve.

SAUCE

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon minced
ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ cup soy sauce
½
cup water
¾ cup dark brown sugar

 

1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound flank steak
¼
cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot or you’ll get a major spatter when adding the other liquids. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

2. Slice the flank steak against the grain into ¼-inch thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty-five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.

3. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

4. As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it’s nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don’t need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon or a spider to take the meat out and onto papertowels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

MARINADE/SAUCE

2 cups water
cup soy sauce
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced fresh
ginger
1
teaspoon minced fresh garlic
½ teaspoon oolong tea

 

Two
½-pound
sea bass fillets

OPTIONAL GARNISH

I tablespoon oil
6 handfuls fresh spinach
½
teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 5.5-ounce can whole baby sweet
corn (6 to 8 baby corns),
drained

1. Make your sauce and marinade by combining the six ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool uncovered, then strain out the ginger, garlic, and tea.

2. Put your sea bass fillets in a storage bag or a covered container with 2 cups of the marinade. Let the fish have a nice soak in the marinade for 5 to 7 hours in the fridge. If the sauce doesn’t completely cover the fish, be sure to turn the fillets a couple hours in so that all sides get marinated.

3. When you are ready to prepare the fish, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

4. Arrange the fillets on a baking sheet. Bake the fish for 22 minutes or until the edges of the fillets are starting to turn brown. Crank the oven up to a high broil and broil fish for 2 to 3 minutes or until you get some dark patches around the edge of the fillets. Just don’t let them burn.

5. As your fish is baking, heat up a wok or large skillet with one tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the spinach, garlic, and baby sweet corn, and a dash of salt and pepper to the pan. Saute the veggies just until the spinach is wilted, then arrange half of the spinach and corn on each of two plates.

6. When the sea bass is done broiling, use a spatula to carefully lay each fillet on the bed of spinach and baby corn. Split the remaining sauce and pour it over each of the fillets before serving.

SAUCE

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 green onions, sliced
1 cup tomato sauce
½
cup water
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

 

½
cup vegetable oil
4 skinless chicken breast fillets
½ cup cornstarch
peel from
¼
orange, julienned
(into ⅛-inch-wide strips)