CHEF SAMBRANO: PLATE LUNCH SERIES FALL 2013 #15

OH YAY...CHOPPED STEAK FOR DINNER!
Locals in Hawaii love beef (pipi), yes! Nothing like succulent beef for dinner, lunch, or breakfast or whenever. Beef, the meat of champions, the meat of all meat earners. Beef, for non vegans. We love em some beef!

Thin sliced flank steaks across the grain, made in stir fries, some call it...or we all call it "Chopped Steak" and there's many a variation of chopped steak plates. Some will stir fry the steak with lots of veggies, with oyster sauce, shoyu, and sesame oil. Some chefs will be simple, Hawaiian salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, and sweet round Maui onions Junior, you got me? You got what I'm saying? We take our Chopped Steak plates freeking seriously now, no fooling around Jackson, we are serious abouts our Chopped Steak plate, with 2 scoops rice and Mac Salad made with delicious (ono) Best Foods Real Mayonnaise, we love Best Foods Real Mayo, the mayo of real men, real women, real people, if you don't like Best Foods Real Mayonnaise you ain't no foodie smoothie, get lost, and never come back again!

So newbie, you wondering what we locals love to eat? What plates we call great plates? I mean you go down south and they all got great pork and beef rib BBQ recipes, well here in our neck of the Pacific, we got plate lunches baby, and don't be fooled, we just got our homies this year on major league food shows. Like Chef Sheldon Simeon, my friend, my colleague, he was featured on Top Chef Seattle.

And just recently Aloha Plate Truck, 3 local boys winning The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network, all Hawaii products Junior! Hawaii...do I need to say this again? Hawaii, Hawaii chefs doing great, because they know what food is all about, we were fusion before that word was invented baby! So no fooling around, we know our food.

But back to our fave plates, our Yay Yay Plates! "Chopped Steak" is a winner, no matter who makes it, I'm down for a plate of it, with 2 scoops of rice, and mac salad and large icy Coke, and I don't care if my doctor says my sugar level is high, it just means my new nickname is Sweetness. I'll tell you what, if you can find a restaurant in Hawaii that sells it, buy it, and eat it, because you'll love it.

Now this plate here has a small scoop of Macaroni Salad, leaving me to surmise that the eater himself is trying to lose weight, what a loser! C'mon man, you never tell the girl at the counter, "Go easy on the mac salad!"

Okay this plate is ok, too much veggies for my liking, but it's all good, veggies are good, it makes you poop easier, but what I do like is that big scoop of rice and inviting looking scoop of macaroni salad on the top right of that foam plate. By the way foam plates? Yeah who cares, foam is all good, so what if it degrades like never. Just pick it up and toss it into a recycle bin. What's the big deal?

Mmmm, this looks really good guys! Just look at it, oooo.

This is a real plate lunch, a real Chopped Steak Plate! Big pieces, not for the faint, not for the wimps, not for the girlymen, no sir, this is a manly plate also devoured by women, big women that could play linebacker for the Houston Texans.

I USED THESE IMAGES FROM GOOGLE AND NOT MAKING A DIME OFF OF THESE HELLOOOO!

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CHOPPED STEAK RECIPE (Ron's Way)

Serves 2

1 lb. of flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain, and marinated in dry sherry, and sesame oil, and dredged in some cornstarch. Just eyeball it Junior! C'mon.

1 small round sweet Maui onion or any round onion, peeled and sliced in half, and then thinly sliced.

1/2 cup of chopped green onions.

1 1/2 cups of thinly sliced white mushrooms.

2 tbsp. of cooking oil for stir frying

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 inch fresh ginger minced.

SAUCE

3/4 cup of soy sauce

1 tsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. sambal

Corn Starch Slurry

1 tbsp. cornstarch

2 tbsp. water.

Directions:

1. Heat up the oil in a wok, sauté the garlic and ginger for a few seconds, add in the sliced flanks and cook about 3/4 way and remove from heat on to a plate or bowl and set aside.

2. Return wok to stove over medium high heat, stir fry the mushrooms & onions until almost cooked through, then add in the green onions and the sauce, bring to boil, add in the slurry until it starts to thicken, and immediately add in the pre cooked flank steak pieces, and cook for about 2 minutes.

3. Before plating adjust with salt and pepper, serve with rice and macaroni salad.

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