And we know where the beef is...

May 5 is the day, the day when Malaysians will go to the polls.   I am sure many of us are already feeling the excitement, I definitely am!  As they say it's going to be mother of all elections, like it or not the winds of change is blowing really strong this time!  I believe in this age, many of us will be making wise choices, we know where the beef is, there is no need to tempt or blind us with some sweets although we will accept them politely.  Oh, and i don't think we need reminders or advertisements on how promises have been fulfilled.

  

Now, let's talk about a real beef dish :)

Like a kid discovering new toys at a toy store, that's how i felt when I saw Wagyu beef being sold at Mid-Valley, Jusco supermarket.  Now, I don't normally shop for groceries there, I am not sure when they started carrying it (so this might be stale info for some of you) but I am pretty sure they don't sell it at the branch that I frequent, hence the excitement.  They come in small packs of 300-500g (if i am not wrong) and at a reasonably affordable price (read can buy some to play with).  When i got home and the excitement kinda settled down, i recalled reading one of my blogger friends mentioning about Wagyu available in Mid-Valley, Junco.  After some googling, it lead me to Yen of Eat Your Heart Out, who did a fabulous looking steak with it.

There's not that much that I know about Wagyu except for the few occasions that I have tried them in Japanese restaurants, indulgence for me at the price that it comes with.  But I pretty well know they are very tender and juicy.    The higher the degree of marbling the more tender and juicy it is.  I am not sure of the marbling degree of the ones that i bought, i dont think it's written on the pack, too low to state probably :)

So, i bought a small pack for stir-frying to lay my hands on.  They were already sliced into small pieces,  a little bigger than bite size though.    I stir-fried more than half the portion with black pepper for dinner and I was pretty glad that it turned out well (Phew, thank god no unexpected disaster that would make the meat come to waste!).   This was what I did with the remaining portion since it was not enough to make it a dish of its own.

Taking a cue from how the beef tasted pretty good stir-fried in black pepper and since we didn't mind an encore, I played along to come up with this black pepper spaghetti.  More like a twist off the Aglio Oglio, some portebellos, romaine and cherry tomatoes thrown in to make it a balanced meal.  It tasted quite good and I love how it turned out looking colourful.

Recipe 

Ingredients

• 150-200g beef
• Spaghetti for 2 pax
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 portebello mushrooms, sliced
• 1 head of romaine lettuce, cut in smaller pieces
• Handful of cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

Seasoning

• Black pepper
• Salt
• Parmesan cheese

1. Slice beef into bite size and marinade with some salt, freshly grounded black pepper and a dash of worchester sauce for 30 minutes.  
2. Cook spaghetti in boiling water with some salt added in until al dente.  Drain spaghetti and mix with a teaspoon of olive oil so that spaghetti will not stick to each other.
3. Heat up olive oil in a pan then saute garlic until almost golden.  Add in the portebellos followed by beef.  Stir fry until beef changes color.
4. Add in spaghetti and toss to mix.   Add in more freshly grounded black pepper and salt.
5. Add in around 1 cup of spaghetti water and grated cheese.
6. Mix in shredded lettuce and tomatoes then toss.

Note : If you notice a pale yellow patch somewhat in the centre, it's shredded mozzarella added to make it a little more cheesy but mostly just for the fun of it and to add colours :)