Makes: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

10 medium garlic cloves
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 pound beef tenderloin, sliced
¼ cup soy
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
10 oz. fresh spinach, cleaned

Accompaniment Ideas …
Steamed jasmine rice
Stir-fried noodles

PROCEDURE

Grind the garlic and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle until mixture forms a rough paste. Over medium-high heat, heat the oil in a wok or sauté pan and add the garlic mixture. Sauté 30 seconds. Add the meat and toss until browned. Add the soy, sugar and fish sauce and toss 30 seconds. Add the spinach and toss until wilted. Serve at once with rice or noodles.

Note on Mortar and Pestles …

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix substances. The pestle is a heavy stick whose end is used for pounding and grinding, and the mortar is a bowl. The substance is ground between the pestle and the mortar. Mortars are also used in cooking to prepare ingredients such as guacamole and pesto (which derives its name from the pestle pounding), as well as grinding spices into powder. Native American tribes used mortars carved into the bedrock to grind acorns and other nuts. Many such depressions can be found in their former territories. In Japan, very large mortars are used with wooden mallets to prepare mochi. A regular sized Japanese mortar and pestle are called a suribachi and surikogi, respectively. Granite mortars and pestles are used in Southeast Asia and India. In Malay, it is known as lesung. Traditional Mexican mortar and pestles, made of basalt, are known as molcajetes. Large stone mortars, with long (2-3 feet) wood pestles were also used in the Middle East to grind meat in order to prepare a type of meatloaf, or kibbeh, as well as the hummus variety known as masabcha.