I love my Meatlover

According to my fiancé there are four food groups—meat, spicy, cheese and dessert.  If a vegetable or salad happened to land on his plate, he would eat it? Sure.  Would he go out of his way to find greenery for consumption?  Absolutely not.  If during the winter I make a warm and satisfying vegetable curry rich with potatoes, carrots and cauliflower, he’ll leaf through it and ask where the meat is.   When I go out of town, his idea of vegetable consumption is slipping a cucumber (don't ask) into his sausage-laden spaghetti sauce. 

Do men like meat more than women?  It’s not that I don’t love a juicy steak, a braised pork shoulder or a lamb chop less than the rest.  I thoroughly enjoy a well-cooked piece of flesh.  However, I don’t feel meat is necessary at every meal or even every day. 

I am surely not the only woman who feels that their guy is meat obsessed.  A survey of 14,000 men and women in the US between May 2006 and April 2007 illustrates this very phenomenon.  They found that “men were significantly more likely to eat meat and poultry products.  Women were more likely to eat vegetables, especially carrots and tomatoes.” [1] There were exceptions to the rules however.  Men, for example, were more likely to eat brussels sprouts or asparagus. 

Considering it was Andy’s birthday on Sunday, I felt it necessary to honor his four food groups.  For all he’s done for me, it’s the least I could do to give back.  I’m absolutely so lucky to have such a great partner to come home to everyday.  For breakfast, I made waffles, bacon AND sausage.  For lunch, we had authentic Texan BBQ.  And for dinner, he swore he wasn’t hungry, but I made him a Szechwan inspired spicy steak stir fry anyway.  And lets not forget the cake, red velvet with cream cheese frosting, that crumbled into a million bazillion pieces and foiled a beautiful birthday food pyramid.

Szechwan inspired steak stir-fry

2 tbsp veggie oil

1 tbsp Szechwan peppercorns ground

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic

4 thai chilis chopped (leave seeds)

1 carrot finely diced

1 cup salted peanuts

1.5 lbs NY strip steak (or any other tender well marbled piece of meat) cut into thin strips

½ cup brocolli

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or Sherry)

1 tbsp sugar

splash of rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp corn starch

Mix soy, wine, sugar, vinegar and corn starch in bowl.

In wok or cast-iron pan on high heat, preheat oil until smoking.  Add peppercorns, cook until fragrant then add onion, garlic, chili and carrot.  Cook until veggies are starting to soften, add peanuts, cook another 2 minutes, add steak and brocolli.   Cook until steak is not pink on outside, add sauce and allow to thicken.  Serve with rice.

1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/asfm-tdi031408.php