Seriously, I can’t believe it’s Friday again—my, how the weeks are flying by—apparently 6 of them have passed since I last shared a Famous Fridays post with all of you, but it’s not for lack of inspiration or desire. It’s just that things have been insanely busy around here with work, family, travel, the holidays and…the fact that we are busy getting our house in tiptop shape to put it on the market early next year. I know, way to bury the lede, right?! In any case, we are moving on and it’s bittersweet and kind of exciting all at the same time. We’ve been here almost 20 years and this house is full of memories and a lot of stuff!! After attacking our basement last weekend, I have decided that minimalism is my new future. Which brings me nicely to the subject of todays Famous Fridays post, Mark Bittman (aka the Minimalist) and author of Dinner For Everyone: 100 Iconic Dishes Made 3 Ways--Easy, Vegan, or Perfect for Company and this very yummy and easy deliciously noodle-y beef stir-fry. Yes sirree, Famous Fridays is back!

To me, Mark Bittman is an icon, but maybe you’re not really sure who he is. Suffice it to say that Bittman is a legend in the foodie world. He wrote food related columns for over 20 years for the NY Times, has 20 cookbooks to his name, is a member of the faculty of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and has starred in four TV series, including Years of Living Dangerously. He stresses a no-nonsense, down-to-earth, flexible cooking style without a lot of flash or fancy ingredients which has earned him the nickname, The Minimalist.

His new cookbook, Dinner For Everyone, continues in this vein, with an interesting concept—there are 100 essential main dishes with 3 different accompanying recipes—easy, vegan, and fancy, to suit whatever works best for you at that particular moment. For example, say you’re looking to make chicken salad. You could make the easy version, Chicken Salad with Corn and Miso Dressing, the vegan version, Everything-But-The-Chicken-Salad or the pull-out-all-the-stops version, Seared Duck Salad with Hot, Sweet and Sour Dressing. Which means that there are actually 300 recipes in the book. Test all of them out and you can pretty much go a full year without being plagued by the bane of the home cook’s existence, “What should I make for dinner tonight?”

It was really hard to choose just one dish to feature here today, but in the end, I wanted something really different from all the Thanksgiving leftovers we are still plowing our way through and the extra house cleanup necessitated something fairly uncomplicated and straightforward, so I chose this Beef Stir-Fry over Crisp Wonton Noodles from the Easy category.

And I’m so glad I did. Guys, this is such a treat! Tender, thinly sliced seared beef combines with snow peas carrots, garlic and soy sauce over a bed of crunchy-ish chow mein style noodles. So much flavor and texture!

And so much opportunity for doing some very fun noodle slurping!

I especially love the way the noodles get crispy but still stay sort of chewy at the same time and I bet you will too!

It’s totally versatile too—you could definitely sub in chicken or make this meatless and add more veggies—however you dream it up, It’s a meal in a bowl that is destined to make everybody happy!

So pick up a copy of Dinner For Everyone—it would make a great holiday gift for the cook in your life and have a great weekend—I’ll be spending it in my basement—why oh why, did we think it was a good idea to keep every single piece of school artwork 3 kids made?!!! Lol! Anyhoo, as long as the basement doesn’t do me in, I’ll be back next week with more food and fun, and cookies of course. No house cleanup is getting in the way of Cookie Season!!

Dinner For Everyone’s Beef Stir-Fry Over Crisp Wonton Noodles-Famous Fridays

Makes 4-6 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds boneless rib eye steak or beef sirloin (you want a tender cut)

• 12 ounces chow mein or other thin egg noodles

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided (you may need a little more)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• Salt and Black pepper to taste

• 12 ounces snow peas, trimmed (you can use more if you like)

• 2-3 large carrots, peeled and julienned

• 5 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon sugar

The Recipe

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it. Place the beef in the freezer. Add the noodles to the boiling water and stir frequently for about 2 minutes, just until they begin to soften. Scoop about a cup of the cooking liquid out and set it aside, then drain the noodles in a colander and shake them around to remove as much water as possible. Set them aside.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s very hot, add half of the noodles and don’t move them around for 2-3 minutes, until they start to sizzle and brown. Then use a spatula to turn them over in bunches and cook on the other side. Do this a few more times, so that a lot (but not all of the noodles) get crisped. Try to move them gently so that you don’t break them up too much. Place them in a shallow bowl or platter and repeat with the remaining noodles. Add more oil if necessary.

3. Slice the frozen beef as thin as you can. In the same skillet you just used for the noodles, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat and add the beef strips and garlic. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper and cook, flipping beef so that both sides get seared and cooked through about 5-7 minutes.

4. Turn the heat high and add the snow peas, carrots, soy sauce, sugar and ¼ cup of the reserved cooking water. Cook, stirring constantly, until the peas turn bright green and are crisp tender as well as the carrots and the sauce is thickened. If the mixture seems dry, add a bit more of the cooking water and cook for a few minutes longer. Turn the stir-fry over the noodles in the bowl and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Dinner for Everyone by Mark Bittman. I tinkered with this, of course. Used more meat and added carrots, cut the oyster sauce and used more soy sauce instead—this would be great with even more veggies.