Stir-fry Sauce

One of the things I do to make a quick stir-fry even quicker is to keep a jar of stir-fry sauce in the refrigerator. You could buy a jar, but why? When you’re ready for dinner, heat up some vegetable oil, sauté your vegetables (this week you could use bok choy, beet greens, thinly sliced beets, onions, garlic and/or squash) and when it’s just about done, add just enough of this sauce to coat everything lightly. The cornstarch will thicken quickly and your stir-fry is done. I love that I don’t have to haul out the ginger and the garlic and the soy sauce and whatever every time I want to make a quick meal. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Vary the proportions to suit the taste of your household.

(2023) Okra and Tomato Stir-Fry

What to do with that bag of okra? This week I’m making Okra and Tomato Stir Fry, recipe below, from the new cookbook out by Natalie Keng. Love the homemade soy-ginger sauce recipe that’s a part of that. I still have little tomatoes from last week, but if I didn’t, I’d just chop up one of this week’s slicers.

From “Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style” by Natalie Keng.

(2023) Corn and Celery Stir-Fry

I am tempted to just chop everything up and make a big salad with a little of everything in it – yes, raw corn, and YES, raw okra. And that will be dinner tonight. But eventually we’ll want something else, so I’ve got three ideas here – two from my go-to New York Times (cold noodles with tomatoes!) but one that was demonstrated at the Decatur Farmers Market. I have to say that I truly miss restaurant chef demos at local farmers markets. At once time that was a mainstay of the markets and always a source of creative inspiration … now they’re extremely rare, but the Community Farmers Market folks have local cooks who do demos most every week, and their recipes are perhaps a bit more practical and maybe easier to pull off.

(2023) Stir-Fried Lettuce (or Swiss Chard)

If you’re ready to do something else with lettuce, although I think I’m just going to enjoy the pretty red lettuce we got in a few big salads, then there’s a recipe for a lettuce stir fry from “Tenderheart,” but you could also use it for the Swiss chard. Adapted from Hetty McKinnon’s “Tenderheart.” This should work well with all kinds of tender greens.

(2021) Summer Vegetables in Spiced Yogurt Sauce

This is also a recipe from the New York Times and totally adaptable for what is in this week’s box. You should swap out vegetables as you prefer. I’ve just been in the mood for Indian food, so this really appealed to me this week. We ran a recipe for Chicken Korma from Aroma Bistro in Roswell a week or two ago and testing that recipe just made me crave Indian spices.

(2020) Baby Bok Choy With Oyster Sauce

Sam Sifton’s note: This is among the easiest, most flavorful preparations of greens imaginable, and it pairs beautifully with almost any vaguely Asian roasted meat or fish. It is also exceptional on its own, with rice. You could swap out the bok choy for broccoli, if that’s all you have, or chard, or beet greens.

Conne’s note: Or Napa cabbage!

(2017) Stir-Fried Beef and Celery

This recipe showed up in my inbox today, sent by the folks at the Splendid Table. It’s from “Malaysian: Recipes From a Family Kitchen” by Ping Coombes. When I saw the first sentence of their description, I thought it was apropos for that beautiful bunch of celery in today’s box: “The star of the dish here is the celery. It’s an undervalued vegetable and often an afterthought thrown into salads or soup stock, or served as crudités, or enjoyed with a Bloody Mary. But I love this vegetable. If I can have it stir-fried with loads of garlic, salt and white rice, I am a happy girl. I find the combination of medium-rare beef and celery divine, so here is my version of Cantonese black bean and beef, given a celery oomph. Serve it with plenty of rice.”

(2017) Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce

The New York Times offers this simple stir fry recipe. Perfect with that big head of boy choy. It’s a nice stir fry sauce you’ll want to use on other things this year. It would be great with the kale, the turnips or the radishes this week. And yes, you can stir fry lettuce!