Ok, so I promised to have this up by yesterday, but it never happened. My bad. I know all of you were waiting in absolute nail-biting anticipation of this quick and easy, throw-together stir fry recipe, so I apologize for your lack of sleep and constant refreshing of the webpage.
I am LOVING the abundance of fresh veggies this time of year. I didn’t make it to the Durham Farmers’ Market last Saturday, so I’ve had to do a bit of shopping at the (dare I say it out loud) grocery store to restock on some tomatoes and corn… luckily, our local Harris Teeter supports local farms and I was able to get most of my produce local (I think?). I also still had some leftover green beans, zucchini, and squash that I just chopped up and threw in the pan with the other veggies.
Plus my leftovers from Shiki Sushi from the other night. Ok, so this recipe had a lot of help. But isn’t that the beauty of throw-together, clean-out-the-fridge Tuesday suppers?
I always go stir-fry crazy (not to be confused with “stir-crazy”) and end up adding wayyyyy too many veggies to the pan. I also have this problem with pizza toppings. I think I have the mindset that the more you can throw in, the better. That’s how I get into trouble with crock-pot recipes that end up making enough servings to feed a small army, and pizza that sort of just, well- droops when you slice it because it’s so laden down with veggies.
But it all gets chopped up into a salad anyway, right? 🙂
Without further ado…
Quick Summer Veggie Stir-Fry
- 1 red pepper
- 3 large carrots
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp each ground ginger, red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 small zucchini
- 1 small squash
- fresh or frozen green beans, with ends trimmed
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- frozen broccoli or stir fry mixture (I used a whole foods 365 blend that had frozen broccoli, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and green beans)
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- dash of hot sauce
- drizzle of honey
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil and a few sprigs fresh rosemary
- chopped kale (roughly 2 cups)
- In a large wok or saute pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add red pepper, carrots, onion, and garlic and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle in the ginger, oregano, curry powder, and garlic powder. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Chop zucchini and squash. Add to same pan with the frozen veggies. Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until tender but not cooked fully.
- Whisk together mustard, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, hot sauce, and honey. Drizzle over stir fry vegetables, add the chopped fresh herbs, reduce heat to low and cover. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Return onion and pepper mixture to pan and top with kale. Cover and cook until kale is wilted but still bright green, about 5 minutes.
- Serve over brown rice with protein of your choice. (leftover tofu for me, chicken for Ben!). Add more sauce if desired.
Cook up the carrots, onions, pepper and garlic.
Add spices.
Prep your chopped veggies. Pictured here is some leftover squash and zucchini from a friend’s mother’s farm! Yay Summer.
I used some of this frozen stir-fry blend from Whole Foods to bulk up the dish a bit (I thought I wouldn’t have enough…)
Return carrots to pan, cover and simmer until tender.
Add some kale and steam.
Give it a stir to incorporate all the sauce.
Serve over rice with tofu or other protein of your choice!
***Disclaimer: Ben thought the sauce had a bit too much of a “kick” to it (that’s his way of saying he didn’t like it at all… he doesn’t really care for mustardy or vinegary things), so instead of watching him suffer finish just to please me, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
The solution? Peanut butter.
I whisked together about a tablespoon of PB, a bit of water, a drizzle of honey and some leftover apricot marmalade. Nuked it for 20 seconds or so and drizzled it over his remaining veggies. And you know what? He loved it! It was almost like a peanut butter soup… a little sweet and with more of that umami taste. I even spooned a bit of it over my own! Yum.
What’s your favorite go-to, shop-the-fridge dinner recipe?
