Stir-fried noodles with beef

Please forgive the blurry photo, I only took one because I was so hungry that I didn't stop to check the camera first!

We've changed our regular grocery shop from Coles/Woolworths and have started to frequent IGA. Now that we've moved, the local Woolworths is always so busy. DD and I both don't like places where you have to fight the crowds, and Woolworths is not that great a store that it's worth pushing and shoving just to get your groceries done. IGA, on the other hand, is like a ghost store. We buy our fresh fruits and vegetables from the markets, so we don't have to worry about that. IGA's not really any more or less expensive that Woolworths, and while you may not have the range of fancy stuff that Woolworths offers (like the bakery and extensive deli) most of that stuff isn't part of our budget anymore anyway. We will, every six or so shops, go to a Coles or a Woolworths to get the stuff that IGA doesn't stock (like Mi Goreng noodles) but generally, IGA is fine for our groceries.

I say generally because there are a few things that aren't great. We've never been lucky enough to find a great butcher (or any butcher for that matter), so we use supermarket meat. I like the convenience of ready-cut stir fry packs and we've never had a problem using them before, but the beef stir-fry cuts from IGA aren't really working out for us. The meat always turns out tough and chewy and it's not due to overcooking. The last time this happened, I realised that when you buy the stir-fry packs you don't know what type of beef you're getting and I decided that I wasn't saving anything by buying the pre-cut stuff.

So, this time I bought some scotch fillets (in bulk, on special) and cut them into strips myself. It made a world of difference. The meat was tender and juicy and tasted awesome, even without the sauce. I'm definately going to keep doing this.

The recipe is from Bills Granger's book, Simply Bill and it's a simple beef and noodle dish. It's supposed to be served with sugar snap peas but we ended up cooking this at the end of the week and I'd already used all the vegetables. It's really yummy and simple and it is so versatile, you could add all sorts of stuff to it.

Stir-fried Noodles with Beef
from Simply Bill by Bill Granger

3 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs dry sherry
3 tbs chicken stock
2 tsp sugar
1 tbs light-flavoured oil
400g beef fillet or rump, sliced
4cm piece of fresh ginger, julienned or grated
250g fresh egg noodles, cooked and drained

Stir together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sherry, stock and sugar in a small bowl.

Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the oil and, when smoking, stir-fry the beef and ginger in two batches, cooking for 1 minute until it is sealed and browned. Return all the beef to the pan and add the sauce. Cook for 1 minute until the sauce has thickened slightly.

Add the noodles to the wok and toss together.