Sticky Garlic Ginger Roadkill Elk

Mmm, ginger and red meat, two great tastes that taste great together. Back in the days when it was safer for me to eat in restaurants (before celiacville), I used to frequent a little Japanese resto that made the most fantastic sticky garlic ginger beef bowl. The outsides of the pieces of beef were caramelized with savory ginger goo, in a crust reminiscent of bbq. After some practice, I've managed to perfect the method at home. This recipe is good with any red meat - beef, ostrich, or in this case, roadkill elk (nope, I'm not kidding, please read my post Roadkill is Real Food).

Start by stir-frying a green veggie of your choice (bok choy, on choy, green beans, broccoli, whatever you enjoy) with garlic. Set aside. Cut meat against the grain into thin, bite-sized pieces. In a cast iron pan over medium high heat, saute about a two inch knob of ginger and 5-6 cloves of garlic (I grate both on a microplane) in lard until fragrant. Add meat, and stir to coat with garlic and ginger. When the meat looks about 50% done, add a spoonful of palm sugar, and a few splashes of (gf) soy sauce, stir, and continue to cook until the meat has a deep brown caramelized crust on the outside*. Remove from heat, and add green veg back to the pan. Serve over rice.

*If you prefer to have a sauce, you can deglaze the pan with 3/4 c. cold water mixed with a teaspoon of potato starch, but this ruins the the sticky crust on the meat.

This recipe appears as a part of Real Food Wednesday. You haven't heard of RFW? Click on the link and find more recipes and tips from people who believe in the power of real foods.