Snow Peas & Beef Stir-Fry

The book manuscript is growing — eight chapters, the story moving from the Bronx through the marriage through the disease through the kitchen, the through-line becoming clearer with each chapter: the chain. The chain of recipes, of women, of love expressed through food, of the insistence that a pot of soup connects a shtetl in Poland to a kitchen on Long Island to a room in a memory care facility, and the connection is real, and the connection is the book, and the book is becoming the thing it wants to be, which is a love letter — to Sylvia, to Marvin, to the kitchen, to the brisket, to the matzo balls, to every woman who ever stood at a stove and said: eat.

I sent three chapters to a literary agent — not randomly, but to Rachel Stein, a former student, class of 2004, who is now a literary agent in New York. I taught Rachel to write. I taught her about sentences and structure and the way a paragraph should build toward its point the way a staircase builds toward a landing. I taught her in a classroom in Oceanside twenty years ago, and now I am sending her my writing, the student-become-agent reading the teacher-become-writer, the chain reversing, the river flowing upstream, which is not how rivers work but which is how teaching works: the student eventually teaches the teacher, and the teaching goes both ways, always has, always will.

I made a spring risotto — asparagus, peas, lemon — the risotto of new beginnings, of manuscripts sent, of chapters launching, of the specific nervous excitement of a woman who has written a book and is now showing it to someone who might help it become a book that other people read. The risotto required patience. The stirring. The waiting. The gradual adding of broth. The patience of risotto is the patience of writing is the patience of living, and I have all three, because I have been practicing all three for sixty-seven years.

The risotto asked me to be patient, and I was, and then the manuscript went out into the world and I needed something faster — something with heat and motion and the satisfying snap of something tender but still alive. Snow peas felt right: green and brief and of the season, the way beginnings always are. This stir-fry is what I make when I am waiting for something important to happen, because the wok demands your full presence, and full presence is the only way to survive the waiting.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 27 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb flank steak or sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain
3 cups fresh snow peas, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish
Cooked white rice, for serving

Instructions

Marinate the beef. In a bowl, combine the sliced beef with 1 tablespoon soy sauce, the cornstarch, and the sesame oil. Toss to coat and let sit for 10 minutes while you prep the remaining ingredients.
Mix the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and 2 tablespoons water. Set aside.
Sear the beef. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add the beef in a single layer and cook without stirring for 1–2 minutes until browned. Stir briefly, then transfer to a plate.
Cook the aromatics. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the wok. Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes (if using) and stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Add the snow peas. Add the snow peas to the wok and stir-fry over high heat for 2–3 minutes until bright green and just tender with a bit of snap remaining.
Finish the dish. Return the beef to the wok, pour the sauce over everything, and toss to coat. Cook for 1 minute more until the sauce clings to the beef and snow peas and everything is glossy and heated through.
Serve. Spoon over steamed white rice and garnish with sliced scallions. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Snow Peas & Beef Stir-Fry — The Patience of Stirring, the Patience of Writing