bo luc lac

While I was home (in Hawaii) last year, I read through several issues of "Saveur".

One issue, (April 2009) had an interesting recipe for "Bo Luc Lac" or "Vietnamese shaken beef" by the Slanted Door in San Francisco.

I've never had this, so I thought it would be interesting to make. I "jotted" down the recipe, which you can find online, here.

My "jotting" sometimes turns to a shorthand of sorts and in this case, I missed what or where to put the garlic that the recipe listed.

I also couldn't remember how this dish looked in the magazine, so instead turned this into a salad.

Here is what I did.

I marinated the meat like the recipe stated for about 6 hours.

I heated my pan with some oil and cooked the beef on one side for 3 minutes.

When it was time to flip it over, I added the minced garlic and half of the vinaigrette. I also added some chopped green onions.

At the end of the 2nd 3 minutes, I turned off the heat.

For my salad, I washed some green leaf, watercress, cilantro. I also added some carrots and cucumber. I drizzled the vinaigrette over the salad.

As part of the recipe, there is also a lime dipping sauce, I instead drizzled this sauce over the meat after I placed it atop the salad.

NOTES: I didn't know what tenderloin was in Japanese and instead bought a really cheap piece of beef....big mistake, there was lots of gristle and fat. Next time, I will buy a better piece.

Since I bought half a pound of meat, I made half the recipe of the marinade, vinaigrette and sauce.

I didn't have red onion or scallions so left them out.

I loved the flavors, the watercress gives it a spicy bite and the lime dipping sauce brightens everything.

I am not sure how authentic this dish is, but I'm making this again.

Have a great week!