What to Do With Leftover Filet Mignon (Hint: Stir-Fry Saves the Day)
It’s the Tuesday after Mother’s Day, and just a quick update.
We had some leftover filet mignon from Mother’s Day dinner (Mom doesn’t eat much), and I really didn’t want it to go to waste. I had to figure out how to repurpose that delicious steak.
Reheat… or Rethink?
My first idea was to simply reheat the steaks and have them again for dinner. But I know how we usually feel about reheated steak, and all the research I did didn’t make the process sound like it would do the steaks justice.
So I shifted focus to recipes that use steak as an ingredient instead of the main event. That’s where I found some traction.
Letting Mom Choose
I narrowed it down to five recipes and let Mom pick—since it was her day, it only seemed right to let her decide how we used the leftovers.
One of the options involved mashed potatoes, which Mom loves, but the sauce included a combination of Marsala wine and teriyaki. I’d never put those two together before, and if it didn’t work, I wasn’t sure I could fix it.
Then I remembered we still had a lot of colored bell peppers left over from sandwich week prep for the podcast. One of the recipes called for quite a few peppers, which felt like a sign. Mom loves bell peppers. And she loves rice too—maybe not quite as much as mashed potatoes, but it’s close.
The Final Choice
The recipe Mom picked turned out to be a great one. It called for marinating the sliced steak, stir-frying the peppers, and finishing everything with a sauce. But the sauce, as written, turned out a bit too salty. I adjusted it with some rice vinegar at first, which helped, but it still needed some sweetness to round it out. A couple tablespoons of honey did the trick. The sauce thickened up, the flavors came together, and the finished dish over jasmine rice was exactly what I hoped for.
Verdict?
Absolutely delicious—and best of all, Mom-approved. She ate every last bite.
Bon Appetit!
Show text-only recipe (fallback)
Hoisin-Glazed Steak Stir-Fry — Ingredients
- 1¼ lb steak (leftover or fresh sirloin), thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup hoisin; ⅓ cup low-sodium soy
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar; 2 Tbsp honey; 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp grated ginger; 3 cloves garlic (minced); 2 tsp Sriracha (to taste)
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 4 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 3 bell peppers (mixed colors), sliced
- Cooked jasmine rice; green onions/parsley for topping
Instructions
- Whisk sauce: hoisin, soy, sugars, vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sriracha, cornstarch.
- Marinate steak with ¼ cup sauce, 10–15 min.
- Sear peppers in 2 batches with 1 Tbsp oil each, 4–5 min per batch; reserve.
- Heat 2 Tbsp oil; add steak. If leftover, warm 2–3 min; if fresh, sear briefly, then stir-fry to just-cooked.
- Return peppers; add remaining sauce; toss until glossy and thick, ~3–5 min. Serve over rice.
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