P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef Recipe

Let me set this story up properly… about two months ago, Mr W’s parents came over to join us and some friends for his birthday dinner. With them, they brought an entire beef tenderloin. Yes, an ENTIRE beef tenderloin.

His dad proceeded to cut it into big, thick steaks which he then took out to the grill, waved some magical meat wand over and turned into one of those food items that makes make yummy sounds while you eat.

My cooking skills are a by product of a grandmother who was the second oldest of eight kids in the hills of West Virginia and a mother who was a home ec teacher that woke my friends and I up from summer back porch sleepovers with homemade cinnamon rolls.

Mr W’s phenomenal grilling skills clearly got passed down from his dad. That man can GRILL!

Anyway…at the end of the night, there was still a pretty nice size portion of the loin left. They told us to keep it, the loin was Mr W’s birthday gift. Fine by us! I was able to cut off four more very nice size steaks for the freezer and used the last pound or so to slice some very thin bias cut pieces for future stir fry. That also got bagged up and went into the freezer.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago. It was Saturday night, were kid free and we were looking for a tasty date night meal at home before chillaxing with a movie. We love Mongolian Shrimp, so it stood to reason we’d also love Mongolian Beef.

So I whipped a batch up one night.

You know how every now and then you make something, sit down to eat it and have to close your eyes and make a small whimper type sound because it’s just THAT GOOD?

This was one of those times. Dear Heavens was this one of those times. I have no doubt the tenderloin was what pushed this over the top. I expect that with a lesser cut of meat it would be great, but not “I’ve died and gone to heaven” amazing. Either way, I’m so making it again.

Plus…as I was walking through my Giant Eagle this week, I got into a great conversation with Dave the butcher. Dave attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and was a chef in Florida before getting tired of the hours and the kitchen culture and moved to Western PA to settle into a more laid back life. Dave is an awesome resource. We spent a good half hour talking about cuts of meat, ways to make them and his adventures in chefdom.

Dave also pointed out the tenderloin on sale for $5.99 a pound this week. That’s about half of what it normally costs. Guess who bought some more to bring home, cut up and put in the freezer for future Mongolian Beef?

Oh baby.

P.F. Chang’s Style Mongolian Beef

Asparagus

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• ¾ cup brown sugar (dark makes it richer)
• vegetable oil
• 1 to 1.5 pounds good quality steak cut on the bias into thin slices
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 bunch asparagus