Saturday Market Food Finds – Bok Choy with Emu
Bok Choy with Emu Stir Fry
Texture and freshness are key in this stir fry
Early season bok choy can be a greatly versatile food product. From wilting the greens to making kimchi or stir fry, it’s uses are many, and the fresh green stocks sitting on farmer’s market stands were too fun to pass up this past weekend. I figured with the rain still falling on Missoula, stir fry wouldn’t be a bad inside meal for this time of year.
The opportunities to pick up some really good meat to stir fry up with your bok choy abound at the Missoula Saturday Market, with bison, elk, deer and locally raised hormone-free beef available regularly throughout the summer. But I was looking for something a little more exotic. So I traveled to the Good Food Store and found some locally raised emu, as in from Wild Rose Emu Ranch in Hamilton.
I cut the emu steak into half-inch pieces and stir fried them in vegetable oil and a little sesame oil with a liberal sprinkle of crushed red peppers. I added a dash of shoyu for flavor and some cracked black pepper. Then I removed the meat from the wok with a slotted spoon.
To capture the tastes of the vegetables and the strong meatiness of the emu, I stir fried the veggie in a little vegetable oil with few drops of sesame oil. I added diced Thai ginger for flavor and stir fried the bok choy ribs first until they softened somewhat. Then I added the leafy greens and stir fried them just until wilted. Last I added the emu meat back to the wok until everything was just heated through.
While stir frying these ingredients, I made a pot full of jasmine rice, and I plated the dish with a large scoop of rice and a spoonful of stir fry with a sprinkle of blackened sesame seeds for color, flavor and texture.
The bok choy tasted crunchy and very fresh, while the strong emu meat cooked in the red chili peppers made the dish almost like a Sheshuan Beef dish in texture and taste.
Bon Appétit,
Big Foodie