As I posted a little while ago, I’ve really started to get into not only eating – but the cooking as well. (I’m still waiting on someone to clean up after me. I really am a tornado in the kitchen! My cats stay far away!). I’m also still working hard to try and lose weight by counting calories, adding in daily workouts and trying to get in at least 10,000 steps a day. As you can imagine, the eating piece doesn’t always match up with the dieting piece – but I’ve found it’s much easier to do when cooking for myself. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I got some new purple pots and pans, which make it fun to cook! (more on that later…)
I have two favorite places to find recipes – AllRecipes.com (I have an app on my iPhone), and my newest favorite is EatingWell magazine. All Recipes list the nutritional values for most of the recipes, and I’ve been able to tweak and modify to make them a little healthier (and translate the recipes to make them for one instead of 6, 10, 12, 500, etc.) But in EatingWell, everything is healthy, so all I need to do is a little math! (Finally a use for all those classes I took in high school).
Tonight, I made Beef & Asparagus Negimaki Rolls (original recipe in EatingWell.) It was very easy, full of flavor, and as far as I’m concerned, better than any Negimaki roll I’ve had in a Japanese restaurant. And the best part? It’s only 300 calories! The original recipe makes enough for four people, calls for a bunch of scallions in addition to the asparagus and is supposed to be cooked on the grill; however, I’m just me, I’m not a huge fan of scallions, and I live in a tiny apartment where a grill is not an option. So, in the adapted recipe below, I edited the ingredients down for 1 person, removed the scallions and added instructions for cooking in a cast iron or oven-safe skillet. I highly recommend this – so try it and enjoy!
Ingredients for the sauce (note – these are the same amounts for the full recipe for four. I reserved the leftover sauce to use as a marinade for something else later)
- 3 TBSPs hoisin sauce
- 3 TBSPs water
- 1 TBSP tomato paste
- 1 TBSP rice vinegar
- 1 TSP toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 TSP crushed red pepper
Remaining Ingredients (these amounts are cut for just one person)
- 6 asparagus stems, trimmed
- 1/4 TBSP vegetable oil (original recipe calls for canola oil, but I don’t have that in the house)
- 1 pinch kosher sale
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 skirt steak, roughly 5 to 6 oz. (I took a 1.4 pound skirt steak, cut it into 4 equal ieces and froze the remaining 3 steaks to use for something else later!)
- 1 pinch toasted sesame seeds
To prepare:
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Mix hoisin, water, tomato paste, vinegar, sesame oil and crushed red pepper in a bowl until smooth. Spoon 2 TBSP of the mixture into a small bowl and reserve for later.
- Toss asparagus, oil, salt and pepper into a large bowl
- Heat-up cast iron skillet/oven-safe pan. While pan is heating up, cut your steak in half, and pound it out until both pieces are about 2 by 6 inches and about 1/2 inch thick. Brush the top side of the steak pieces with some of the sauce. Divide the asparagus stems (3 for each piece of steak) among the two pieces of steak, placing them across the middle. Fold and roll the steak over the bundles and thread a skewer through the overlapping ends of the steak and through the bundle to hold the rolls together.
- Place the rolls into the hot cast iron skillet or oven safe pan, seam-side down for about 3 -4 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side 3-4 minutes (it should look a little charred). Then move the pan into oven for another 4-5 minutes for a nice medium steak.
- Remove from the oven. Brush the steak with some of the reserved sauce and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
I served this atop a bed of steamed quinoa that I bought pre-made from Fresh Direct, and the whole meal was 550 calories, 15 grams of fat and DELICIOUS!
Bon Appetit!
