For some reason, Tuesday is the hardest day of the week for me to figure out what to have for dinner. Growing up, we ate the same food each weekday (Monday was meatloaf, Wednesday was lamb chops, Thursday was beef stew, Friday was spaghetti, and Tuesday was … Liver and Bacon.  Now you know why I struggle to find something suitable for Tuesday.  Although I hated liver as a child, I now find eating it a few times a year works for me (and always served with homemade onion rings) – but I will never again eat it 52 times a year.  Lamb chops maybe…. Liver, no.

On the weekend I usually prepare entrees that are large enough to provide leftovers for lunch at work and Monday night dinner. If I am smart, I will create my “leave behind bowl”. That is, as I cook on the weekend I hold back a couple handfuls of whatever vegetables and noodles/rice I am using for other recipes – store them in an airtight bowl in the refrigerator, and consequently have enough items to create a quick and easy stir-fry for later in the week – or in this case, just cuz it’s Tuesday.

There are two types of stir-fry: Chao technique where the food is stir fried on high heat and then steamed till it is fully cooked.  And the Bao technique where the food is cooked on very high heat with a large amount of cooking oil, and constantly tossed about the pan, often referred to as Flash-Fry or Explode Frying. I tend to cook the Chao way, do you wonder why?   Actually I get a lot of flavor cooking the Chao method and only one pan to clean up – my kind of recipe!

Ingredients:

Portobello mushrooms, sliced

Red onion, sliced into rings and then cut in half

Asparagus spears, cut into bite size pieces

1 Corn on the cob – kernals cut off the cob

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can whole water chestnuts, cut in half

Olive oil

2 Tbl. Sesame oil

¼ cup marsala wine

Salt

 

Method:

Add olive oil to frying pan and saute red onion and garlic for one minute till onion starts to brown.

Add mushrooms and corn and saute for another two minutes.  Remove to serving platter.

Add more olive oil to pan and saute the asparagus and water chestnuts till asparagus are tender.

Add the mushroom and corn mixture back into pan with asparagus.  Add in the sesame oil, salt, and marsala.  Stir constantly so vegggies don’t burn on bottom of pan and platter up.

This is a vegetarian recipe, but if I have leftover cooked chicken I usually cut it into chunks and add at the very end to take the chill off the chicken.    If using beef, slice it very thin before cooking and then add a splash of Chinese Oyster Sauce into the mix.

What do you add to your stir-fry?

Yield: 3-4 servings