Tangelo Broccoli Beef

The season for tangelos is drawing to a close, but the ones that are still available are extremely juicy.  It seemed criminal not to attempt to use that excessive juice in a savory meal.  I just had to try it.

If you're not familiar with tangelos, they are the tart cousin of the orange - in fact, they are a cross between tangerines and pommelos.  They can be fairly sharp, almost unpleasantly so, in my opinion.  But they are so incredibly juicy that they definitely beat their citrus cousins in that category. 

Instead of a more traditional Broccoli Beef recipe, I thought I would combine that concept with a citrus sauce featuring our friend the tangelo.  The result is a slightly sweet, beautifully juicy (how many times can I use that word in one blog post?) and subtly unusual meal.  I threw in otherwise common ingredients for an Asian dish, to let the tangelo truly stand out.  The result was a quick and easy stir fry that is anything but pedestrian.

Use any cut of beef you like - I tend to go for leaner cuts, but anything would work here.

Tangelo Broccoli Beef

serves 3

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon canola oil

florets of 1 head of broccoli, cut into uniform pieces

3/4 lb. to 1 lb. top sirloin, visible fat removed, cut into 1/4" strips

pinch of salt

juice of 1 large tangelo (about 1/3 cup of juice)

2 teaspoons Sriracha or other hot chile sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 scallion, thinly slice

toasted sesame seeds for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat.  Add the broccoli and cook, stirring constantly and shaking the pan on occasion, for about 1 minute, until broccoli is bright green.   Add steak and season with salt.  Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until most of the pink is gone from the beef.

2.  Whisk the tangelo juice, hot sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, and ginger together in a small bowl until well combined.  Pour over the beef and broccoli and reduce heat to medium.  Stir in the scallions. Continue to stir and cook until the beef and broccoli are coated in a tangelo glaze.  

3.  Serve with toasted sesame seeds if you like.  This is great over brown rice, but soba noodles would work nicely too.

Enjoy!