Easy Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

Valentine's Day. My first with a boyfriend in five years. Terrence came over after the kids were in bed. He brought flowers — sunflowers, not roses, because he remembered my tattoo. The sunflower on my left wrist, the one I got on my thirtieth birthday that I haven't gotten yet but I will — wait. I'm twenty-seven. The sunflower tattoo comes at thirty. But Terrence doesn't know about the future tattoo. He brought sunflowers because I mentioned once — ONCE — at coffee, months ago, that sunflowers are my favorite flower because they grow toward the light even when everything around them is dirt. He REMEMBERED. He brought me the flower of my metaphor. That's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me, and it involves a $6 bouquet from Kroger. Romance is not expensive. Romance is listening.

We had dinner — just us, after the kids were asleep. I made steak (two filets, pan-seared, butter-basted, garlic and rosemary) and he made a salad and we ate at my table by candlelight and it was the most adult evening I've had since... since before Chloe was born. Two adults. Dinner. Candles. A conversation that wasn't about school pickups or dentist schedules or who ate whose goldfish crackers. We talked about music and books and where we want to be in five years. He said, "Right here." I said, "In this apartment?" He said, "In this life. With you." With me. Five years from now. That's a plan. That's a future tense from a man who has only spoken in present tense until now. He's thinking about future. I'm thinking about future. We're thinking about the same future.

Chloe made Valentine's cards for her class again. This year, Jayden made them too — scribbled hearts on construction paper with "LOVE JAYDEN" written by Chloe because Jayden can't write yet but he can scribble and he can sign his name in Chloe's handwriting, which is a valid artistic collaboration. Jayden made a special card for Terrence: an orange heart. Just an orange heart. No words. Orange. Terrence put it in his wallet. He carries an orange heart from a four-year-old in his wallet. I'm done. I'm done pretending this isn't love.

I made a molten chocolate lava cake for dessert — the fancy Valentine's dessert, the one that looks like it requires a pastry degree but actually requires a muffin tin, some chocolate, and eight minutes in a hot oven. The center was liquid. The outside was cake. Terrence ate it with a spoon and closed his eyes and said nothing. Sometimes the best review is a man eating chocolate with his eyes closed and saying nothing. That's a Michelin star. That's everything.

That Valentine’s dinner I made — the filets, the butter basting, the garlic and rosemary — it lived in my head for weeks afterward, not because of the technique but because of what happened around the table. If you want that same candlelight energy without standing at the stove the whole evening, this slow cooker Mongolian beef is the answer: you prep it in the afternoon, it does its work quietly while you light the candles and put the kids to bed, and by the time it’s just the two of you, dinner is already done. I made it the following month and Terrence said it tasted like something from a restaurant. He was wrong. It tasted like something from a home, which is better.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 2 hrs 45 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs flank steak, sliced thin against the grain
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
4 green onions, sliced (whites and greens separated)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, for garnish
Cooked white or jasmine rice, for serving

Instructions

Coat the beef. Place sliced flank steak in a large zip-top bag or bowl with the cornstarch. Toss until every piece is evenly coated. This step is what gives the sauce its clingy, glossy finish — don’t skip it.
Sear for color. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two batches so you don’t crowd the pan, quickly brown the beef, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. You’re not cooking it through — just building color and flavor. Transfer to the slow cooker insert.
Build the sauce. In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and the white parts of the green onions. Pour the sauce over the seared beef in the slow cooker.
Slow cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the beef is tender and the sauce has thickened into a glossy glaze. Stir once halfway through if you’re around.
Finish and serve. Stir in the green tops of the green onions during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Serve over steamed rice and scatter sesame seeds over the top. Serve straight from the slow cooker insert if you’re eating at a candlelit table and nobody needs to see the kitchen.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef — The Dinner That Started a Future Tense