Beef Sukiyaki with Noodles

Prep: 9 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 24 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
2 pounds pepper steak strips
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 medium onions, sliced
5 scallions, sliced
1 (6-ounce) package sliced Portobello mushrooms
1 (7-ounce) package baby spinach leaves
1 (16-ounce) box fettuccini, cooked according to package directions

Preparation:
1. Mix soy sauce, wine, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl until sugar dissolves; set aside.
2. Rinse pepper steak and pat dry.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add pepper steak and sauté for 2 to 4 minutes, until almost cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.
4. Add remaining oil to skillet and sauté onions, scallions and mushrooms for 5 minutes.
5. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute, until wilted.
6. Return pepper steak to skillet with vegetables and add 3/4 of the soy sauce mixture. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 minute.
7. Place meat and vegetable mixture in a large warm serving bowl. Add fettuccini and toss. Drizzle with remaining soy mixture before serving.

Tips:
The word yaki means "sauté" or "grill" in Japanese. The best beef for sukiyaki is a cut that has lots of fat but is still very tender. For a splurge, ask your butcher to slice top chuck French roast into pepper steak-like strips.

Additional Notes:
This recipe is adapted from Food & Wine magazine. It called for sake, a traditional Japanese wine fermented from rice; I substituted white wine, as it is hard to find kosher sake.