The Monger's Fantastic Sweet Japanese Beef with Vegetables

This is a first for the Monger: I am actually writing about something that I cooked. For full disclosure, I am a pretty bad cook, and when I do cook, I usually am a recipe whore. Any deviation from a pre-set recipe will draw my ire and often when sweetmonger departs from a recipe, my reaction gets me kicked out of the kitchen. However, with this dish, I not only altered the recipe but also created a meal that I would not mind spending $35 on in a restaurant.

I like to cook things that are easy and there is nothing easier than broiling a steak. You simply turn a nob on the oven and it's ready to go. This steak dish is pretty amazing. The marinade is a mixture of salty and sweet that imparts wonderful flavor to a filet.

Here are the ingredients: 2 filets (the size depends on you level of hunger), 1/4 cup of soy sauce (reduced sodium if you like to eat healthy), 3 tablespoons of mirin (sweetened sake), 3 tablespoons of honey, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and 1 clove of minced garlic. The original recipe called for regular sake instead of mirin, but I accidentally bought the wrong thing at Whole Foods.

Simply combine the ingredients (minus the filets) in a bowl, stir together and then marinate the beef for about 30 minutes. Then broil the steaks for about 10 minutes, turning once for medium rare. While the steaks are broiling, boil the remaining marinade for a minute to create a sauce.

Serve the steaks with your choice of vegetable and the sauce. I like to use steamed asparagus, because the sweetness of the sauce creates a nice contrast with asparagus' natural bitterness.

This may be the one and only recipe I ever mention on this blog, because most of the things I cook are utterly forgettable; however, this one is nothing less than excellent. Enjoy.