recipe-a-week #18: beef and orange stir-fry

Recipe-a-week is back! Tonight's supper was from Great Food Fast, and it was pretty good. Of course, I made some modifications - some intentional, some not - which I will add in parentheses below:

Beef and Orange Stir Fry
Serves 4; 25 minutes

• 3 oranges (I used one orange for the sauce and two grapefruit for the rest)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds trimmed boneless sirloin or rib eye, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips (I had this strange sandwich beef, similar to what you would use on a Philly sandwich, which worked well)
  
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil (I skipped this)
  
• 6 scallions, green parts only, cut into 1-inch lengths (I didn't have scallions, but had tons of chives on hand, so used a boatload of those instead)
  

Directions

1. Into a small bowl, finely grate zest and squeeze juice from 1 orange. Add garlic and soy sauce.
2. With a sharp paring knife, peel remaining 2 oranges. Slice oranges crosswise 1/2 inch thick, then halve slices; push out, and discard any seeds. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, toss meat with cornstarch until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Working in batches (adding more oil if needed), brown beef on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a plate.
4. Pour juice mixture into skillet, and boil until syrupy, about 1 minute. Return beef to skillet; add orange slices and scallions. Toss until coated and heated through. Serve hot.

I served this with couscous, which was delicious. I would recommend not substituting the grapefruit; the oranges would have been perfect. (The truth about why I used grapefruit: when I was choosing a recipe, I glanced in the pantry to see what was on hand, and what I thought were three oranges were one orange and two grapefruit. I was too far into the recipe by the time I realized my mistake. Whoops.)