Stir-Fried Beef and Asparagus, Bonnie has bunny breath

Spring.

Mon mari favorite vegetable season: artichokes, asparagus and avocados are all in abundance.

The local asparagus and artichokes aren’t in yet, but they are coming in from Spain.

When the asparagus is local, we eat 2 – 3 lbs each week, for the short time it’s available.

This time of year we just get a taste – the perfect amount for a stir-fry.

This was based on a recipe from ‘the food of Asia, a food lover’s guide’.

The recipe is Japanese and is supposed to be thin strips of beef wrapped around spring onions and asparagus.

Well, let’s just say the quest for appropriate, paper-thin, tender beef was challenging.

I made a stir-fry.

Stir-Fried Beef and Asparagus

Total time: 25 minutes

 Ingredients:

  • 12oz (360gr) beef, suitable for stir-frying, cut into small pieces
  • 6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced the long way
  • 8oz (240gr) asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2″ lengths
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 4 tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup (2oz, 60ml) mirin
  • 1/4 cup (2oz, 60ml) sherry
  • 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) beef stock
  • 2 tbs dark soy sauce
  • 2 tsp cornstarch (corn flour, maizena) dissolved in 4 tsp water
  • Basmati Rice
  • 1/2 cup (3.3oz, 95gr) Basmati rice
  • 1 cup (8oz, 240ml) beef stock

Stir-Fried Beef and Asparagus

 Instructions:

  • Cook rice in stock until done, about 15 minutes.
  • Heat 2 tsp oil in large skillet.
  • Add spring onions, asparagus, garlic stir-fry 5 minutes.
  • Remove to a plate.
  • Heat remaining 2 tsp oil and add beef.
  • Stir-fry 3 minutes.
  • Return vegetables to skillet, add stock, mirin, sherry and soy sauce.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Add cornstarch mixture, stirring until thickened.
  • Spoon over rice and serve.

Print Recipe

Warning: unsettling story follows….

Read at your own risk.

Today, while I was out working with my sweet, well-behaved dogs, I was thinking about this post.

I was thinking, actually, that I didn’t really have anything to write about.

I had nothing to say, no stories to tell…..

I was out of words.

Then Bonnie ran off.

We (Bonnie, Guapa and I) had been out in the field behind the house playing ‘kibble toss’. (I throw a bit of dry dog food, they search until they find it.)

All of a sudden, Bonnie found her piece of kibble, looked at me for a second, then took off around the side of the house, up into the field where the bunnies live.

Guapa and I wrapped up our game and went chasing after her.

As we came around the other side of the house, Bonnie was waiting for us at the front gate.

That was odd….. Usually I have to go scrambling through the brambles to grab her collar and haul her home.

And there she was, waiting patiently at the front gate.

Chewing……

I hate to see my dogs chewing outside.

They don’t chew the kibble, you see, they just swallow it whole.

Chewing is always bad news.

I put Guapa inside the fence and ran towards Bonnie, yelling at her to ‘drop’.

Whatever she had was completely in her mouth, so I assumed it wasn’t a bunny.

A stick maybe? I hoped, foolishly.

Then I saw some furry brown bits hanging out of one side of her mouth.

A mouse? She has caught more than one mouse…. Usually she just plays with them, gives them a thorough bath and lets them go when I yell at her.

Then I heard crunching…..

And saw more furry brown bits.

They were ears.

Long ears…..

They were bunny ears.

I shrieked louder and with more authority (if such a thing were possible by then).

She dropped it.

It was a bunny head.

In her favor, once she dropped it, and I managed to open the gate, she pranced in without a backward glance at it.

Guapa was more interested in the bag of treats I still had in my hand.

They both got a treat and I went in search of mon mari to dispose of the head.

Now…..

How did the head become separated from the rest of it?

And where in hell is the rest it?????

Why aren’t the foxes and feral cats taking care of this sort of thing?

Am I going to have to worry about finding bunny parts for the next two weeks?

No bunny toss, er, I mean, kibble toss in the field for awhile….. Sorry girls.

What do people without pets do when they have writer’s block?

7 thoughts on “Stir-Fried Beef and Asparagus, Bonnie has bunny breath”

  1. Perhaps the feral foxes and cats are doing their bit but were disturbed in the process? Our neighbours cat,Patapouf, is in the habit of leaving partially eaten prey around our orchard! We haven’t seen any signs of a bunny but we know she catches them.
    Our avocados are just coming into season here but the asparagus season has gone and we will be arriving in France too late this year to get any there.

  2. 🙁 My younger daughter has a bun. A ‘free range’ bun. He has the run of their apartment. He’s her third. They’re smart and funny and loving… I am sad…

    On a different note, I love asparagus! So does the DH so I’ll definitely be making this one. Anything with asparagus in it (unless the recipe makes it mushy) is at least a trier for us.

  3. Phoenicia, she didn’t have time…. She wasn’t out of sight for more than a minute. She’s a slow eater LOL

    Gill, could have been fox. Jealous about the avocados…. We used to get them in Spain but I don’t think they’re grown around here. Asparagus may be late – you might get lucky.

    Zoomie, I may try that…. naw, not while I have the girls.

    nightmusic, they are cute, but not in my potager. My mother loved mushy asparagus…. I prefer al dente…. We eat a lot in season.

    Tanna, I could only wish they’d disappear that easily.

    Kate, no, she chewed on a rabbit head. Gross! She didn’t seem determined to eat it, just wanted to check it out (I keep telling myself)

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