We were rushed for time tonight, so this recipe from Cooking Light’s SuperFast Suppers cookbook sounded perfect — it was on the table 20 minutes after cracking open the fridge. The sauce thickens nicely and certainly doesn’t taste “light”.

Pepper-Beef Stir-Fry
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1 (5 oz) package Japanese curly noodles (chucka soba), uncooked
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup low-salt beef broth
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
cooking spray
3/4 pound top round steak, thinly sliced
1 tsp light sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
3 ounces snow peas, trimmed

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Combine soy sauce and next three ingredients in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Place non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. add beef. Stir-fry for 4 minutes or until browned. Remove beef from pan; set aside and keep warm. Coat pan with oil. Add garlic and bell pepper; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add snow peas and water chestnuts; stir-fry 1 minute. Return beef, juices, and soy sauce mixture to pan and cook 30 seconds, or until slightly thickened. Serve over noodles.

Serves 4.

This is a nice summery salad featuring lots of crisp vegetables, ground pork, and cellophane noodles (also called glass noodles or bean thread noodles). It’s also the first recipe we’ve tried from the new cookbook that Lisa’s mom gave us over the weekend. All of the recipes in the book look delicious; I’m sure we’ll be featuring more in upcoming weeks!

We cut the oil a bit from the recipe below, otherwise we made it as listed.*

Cellophane Noodle Salad
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8 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 lemongrass stalk
1 green jalapeno chili
1/4 lb ground pork
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground white pepper
3 oz cellophane noodles, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp canola oil
1 cup peeled, seeded and julienned cucumber
1/2 cup seeded and julienned red bell pepper
3 shallots, thinly sliced
8 red-leaf lettuce leaves
2 tbsp minced unsalted peanuts, toasted
1 tbsp shredded fresh mint
1 tbsp shredded fresh cilantro

Directions

Soak the mushrooms in warm water to cover for 30 minutes. Drain, remove and discard the stems and cut the caps into fine julienne. Using only the pale bottom part of the lemongrass stalk, peel away the tough outer layer, smash the stalk with the side of a chefs knife and thinly slice on the diagonal. Seed the chili, then thinly slice into rings. Set the vegetables aside.

Season the pork with the salt and white pepper. In a saute pan over high heat, saute the pork until it turns opaque and is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the pork to a sieve and let drain, then place in a large bowl. Drain the noodles and add to the bowl with the pork.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and water. Heat until the sugar has dissolved, pour the mixture into a bowl and gradually whisk in the canola oil.

Add the cucumber, bell pepper, shallots, mushrooms, lemongrass and chili to the pork and noodles and toss to mix. Add the lime-juice mixture and toss to coat evenly.

Line a platter with the lettuce leaves. Top with the pork and noodles, garnish with the peanuts, mint and cilantro and serve. Serves 4.

* Make sure your butcher gives you ground pork and not ground lamb (!!)