In Appreciation of Diana Wheeler: Beef and Broccoli

In 1988, when I moved to Savannah, my roommate, Rhonda, and I lived in a fantastic attic apartment one block away from Forsyth Park in a building that used to be a funeral home. Climbing the stairs felt like climbing Mount Everest, especially after grocery shopping, but every room inside our apartment was bathed in sunlight by the cupolas in every room. We loved that apartment and lived there for two years.

Meanwhile, a former high-school and college classmate, Camille Herring, lived a mile or so away in a little apartment in Trustee's Garden. One spring weekend, another high school friend, Diana Wheeler, came to Savannah for a visit. Camille brought her to my apartment to say hello, and we spent the afternoon together, eventually deciding to make stir-fry together for dinner.

At the local Food Lion, Diana chose a lovely head of broccoli, and when we came home, she fascinated me with the way she cut it. I had always cut my broccoli vertically so that every piece made a little tree. Diana, though, cut her broccoli horizontally, and the cross-sections of the stalk just under the florets took such funny shapes, like an illustration I'd find in a biology textbook.

Call me easily amused, but I've always enjoyed eating broccoli that looks like amoeba. For the last twenty-two years, because of Diana's influence, I've always cut my broccoli that way.

Last night I remembered Diana again as I cut broccoli for dinner. Beef and broccoli is an easy meal, and it includes vegetables my ten year-old will eat without complaining. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless sirloin steak, cut into thin strips (or just get whatever top round steak the grocery store has already cut into strips for you)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets (I include the amoeba-looking stalks)
• 1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1 can consomme

Instructions:
In one cup, stir together the corn starch with 1/2 cup water and set aside. In a skillet or wok, add olive oil and stir-fry the beef in two batches until browned. Remove. Add broccoli and stir-fry until tender-crisp. Add onion. Stir fry until softened a bit. Add consomme and corn starch mixture. Cook until mixture boils and thickens. Stir constantly Return beef to skillet. heat through.

My mistake last night was that I cooked this meal from memory, even though I haven't made it in a long time. I forgot to remove the beef. It cooked the whole time and became tough. Not too tough. We could still eat it. But it didn't consist of the juicy morsels we prefer. Hence, my ten year-old ate the broccoli and rice and put his beef aside. That was fine. I'd prefer he eat the veggies anyway.

Usually, serving this meal with rice is plenty for dinner. But I had lots of vegetables in my fridge that I'd been unable to cook this week because basketball games interfered with kitchen time. So I cooked them up too. Therefore, last night's beef and broccoli came with cauliflower roasted in olive oil and stir fried yellow squash. They weren't as interesting, though, as Diana's amoeba-shaped broccoli stalks.