Slowcooker Beef and Asparagus With Black Bean Sauce

The pleasure of eating seasonally is lost on these two.  A news clip recently flew across my desk about a couple of innovative California growers, separately racing to the finish line with fig trees that they hope to coax into bearing fruit year round.  Initially, the availability of fresh figs in every season sounds like a good idea.

But I like better the anticipation of figs ripening to syrupy sweetness during the warm months and then savoring the fruit with its seasonal counterparts – sun-ripened tomatoes, harvest talk, and a late summer table.  If the aforementioned fellows get their way, fresh figs produced by nature's rhythm may soon fall victim to capitalists.

Wouldn't we rather look forward to the seasonal journey?

No waiting now as local asparagus is abundantly available fresh for a short time. Most of the asparagus sold in northern California comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and these bundled spears make their appearances at grocers and farmers markets only for a few weeks in spring.

Choose spears that are medium size with slightly more girth than a wooden spoon handle.  The skinny ones won't have much flavor and the big ones tend to be woody. Keep asparagus fresh by wrapping very damp paper towels around the bottom cut edges and hold them in a plastic bag, refrigerated in the produce drawer, where they'll keep for about 3 days.

A fast and delicious way to enjoy these seasonal spears is to cut them into 1 1/2 inch lengths and sauté them in hot shimmering oil with slivered garlic, finishing with toasted sesame seeds.  Another popular way is to flash cook the asparagus with meat in a fermented black bean and garlic sauce.

Asparagus Beef in Black Bean and Garlic Sauce is prepared the same way as most stir-fry dishes.  The meat is cut into bite-size pieces and marinate while the vegetables are cut and the finishing sauce ingredients are combined. Mise en place, it takes only short minutes for the dish to cook.

Be ready for delicious smells as salted fermented black beans are particularly pungent when paired with garlic. Keeping an opened package of the fermented beans a tight-lidded jar is a good decision to capture fermented vapors.  And about that funny smell after eating asparagus – blame the vegetable's volatile (airborne) sulfurous amino acids.  The good news:  only about 25% of human noses can detect that funniness.  So don't wait and welcome spring.

Recipe: Asparagus Beef with Black Bean and Garlic Sauce

Asparagus turns watery after cooking and is best a little undercooked so that it stays tender crisp.  This dish can also be made with chicken cut into small pieces.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salted fermented black beans
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1/2 to 3/4 pound beef flank steak
• 2 fresh ginger slices (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

• 2 1/2 cups asparagus spears
• 1/2 small yellow onion (optional)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch

• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

• generous pinch granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup chicken broth or water

• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

Instructions

1. Prepare ingredients: rinse salted fermented black beans well (2 times); drain. Peel and mince garlic, combine with salted black beans into a small bowl and smash together with a pestle or the butt end of a kitchen knife.
2. Cut flank steak 1/4″ thick across the grain, place in a small bowl and add black bean-garlic paste, ginger if using, and 1 1/2 teaspoons each corn starch and soy sauce. Mix together well.
3. Wash asparagus, drain well and trim off the white ends. Cut stalks into 1 1/2 inch slices on the diagonal turning stalk a quarter turn before the next cut.  If using optional fresh ginger, slice two 1/8″ slices and if using optional yellow onion, slice onion 3/8″ thick.
4. In a separate small bowl, mix together remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons each corn starch and soy sauce, sugar and chicken broth/water to make sauce.
5. Stir fry: heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a sauté or frying pan over high heat. Add cut asparagus, and onion if using, and stir-fry for about a minute. Cover and steam for 30-45 seconds adding a tablespoon of water if necessary to avoid scorching. Remove asparagus from pan. Wipe out the same pan with a paper towel if necessary and replace on high heat.
6. Add remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and heat until oil shimmers.  Add beef quickly, creating a single layer, and let cook for about 30 seconds until the edges turn color.  Flip over the beef slices and stir them around to cook for about 10 seconds. Remix sauce ingredients and pour over beef, loosening brown bits, if any.  When sauce has thickened, about 15 seconds, return asparagus to pan and toss lightly to coat with sauce. If sauce is too thick, add a broth or water a tablespoon at a time; stir well.  Plate up immediately.

Serves 2-3  over rice.

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Source: http://www.ginskitchen.com/asparagus-beef-with-black-bean-and-garlic-sauce/