What's for Dinner? Hurricane Teriyaki!

The start of the hurricane, at high tide

As I write this, we are listening to the pouring rain and whistling wind of big, bad, Hurricane Irene.  Well, she's as least big. The jury is still out on whether she is bad...I guess we'll know in the morning. 

So since we were trapped in the house tonight, we thought we should make dinner with some things from the freezer, just in case we lose power and have to pitch some of it.  Our friends Brian and Laura are here riding out the storm with us (after the owner of the beach house they were to rent for the weekend called to tell them he was giving them their money back and going down to board up the house).  We had some filet tips in the freezer and (RANDOM) egg rolls and potstickers.   So, Sully thought of steak teriyaki and creating a Chinese feast.  We were kind of thinking the power was going to go out at any minute, so we got down to business.  We have always had trouble making a good brown sauce for Chinese food.  It just never comes out as flavorful or as good as when you get it from a good Chinese place (probably the lack of MSG-ha!).  But we found this recipe and adapted it a little bit and it came out so good! 

We didn't have too much (that is perishable) in the house, but we had some green beans, so that had to do (it's fun to make something good out of nothing...Sully's a pro).  This sauce would be great with chicken and/or beef with broccoli and/or any kind of veggie mix.  Jasmine rice was also really good with it because it was fluffy and sticky and it was a great base for the sauce.  I hope you try it...without the hurricane.  Enjoy!

Hurricane Teriyaki Sauce
Serves 4

2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp canola or peanut oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger (keep your peeled ginger in the freezer and grate frozen piece...makes it easy!)

Combine soy, broth, vingegar, sugar, sesame oil and pepper in a small bowl.

Dissolve cornstarch in water.

Heat saucepan over high heat and add canola oil. Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 1 minute.  Add cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce thickens.  If sauce gets too thick, add more broth or water.