Grilled Thai Chicken and Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Thai Lime Dressing

    The chicken lettuce wrap recipe was a great find in The Big Book of Chicken by Maryana Vollstedt. I was looking through the book trying to find some inspiration for a meal, and I came across this one! We always love chicken lettuce wraps at restaurants, and I thought it would be so fun to be able to make them at home. I decided to make this the inspiration for the rest of the meal. For the main course I went with another chicken dish because, well, I had The Big Book of Chicken in front of me. In retrospect I maybe would have chosen something like fish or shrimp, just to mix things up a bit. I found the Thai Lime Dressing as I was looking through my new favorite book, Salad Dressings by Jessica Strand. So many exciting salad dressings to try, and they don’t have to be actually eaten on lettuce! Like tonight, for example, I made the Thai Lime dressing and we used it as a dipping sauce for the Chicken Lettuce Wraps and sprinkled it over the roasted broccoli we had! (see my Pilot Post for directions on making the roasted broccoli).

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 ¼ lbs ground chicken
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
6 green onions including some tender green tops, finely chopped
2 oz. mushrooms, finely chopped
1 Tbsp peeled, grated fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 can (5 oz) water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped (the original recipe actually calls for a 15 oz. can but, oh man, that seems like way too many water chestnuts to me! 5 oz. was definitely sufficient. Feel free to do the whole 15 if you want)
½ cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne
8 large leaves iceberg lettuce, chilled

Directions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken and celery and sauté for 2 minutes, breaking up the chicken as you stir. Add the onions, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic and sauté for another 5 minutes, then add the water chestnuts, soy sauce, sugar, and cayenne. Simmer until the soy sauce has evaporated, about 5 minutes longer.
To serve, spoon the mixture onto the lettuce leaves, roll up, and eat in hand.
Makes 4 servings.

Grilled Thai Chicken

Ingredients:

2 Shallots, cut up

2 garlic cloves, cut up

3-4 sprigs fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2-3 Tbsp chopped fresh lemongrass (or 1 tsp lemon zest)

¼ cup soy sauce, divided
6-8 boned, skinned chicken thighs (about 1 ½ lbs)

Directions:
To make the topping, place all ingredients, except chicken and 2 Tbsp soy sauce, into a food processor. Process until chunky. Put remaining 2 Tbsp soy sauce into a 7x11 inch pan and add chicken. Turn chicken over to coat thoroughly, then cover and marinate in fridge for several hours. (I actually only marinated mine for about half an hour and it was totally fine).
When chicken is ready to be cooked, prepare a grill with medium indirect heat. Place chicken on a sprayed or oiled grate and grill for 10 minutes, then spread on the topping and cook about 10 minutes longer (until a thermometer in the center of a breast registers 180°).
Makes 4 servings

Thai Lime Dressing

Ingredients:
Juice of 4-5 limes
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp fish sauce
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
1 serrano chile, stemmed, halved, seeded, and chopped finely
2 Tbsp minced fresh mint

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Serve over anything! Roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, it’s all yummy. Keeps in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.

Pomodoro Sauce

    I mentioned before my inexplicable aversion to tomatoes; this aversion extends to anything with tomatoes in it, including sauces. One might think that a sauce that is basically smooth, with only a few soft tomato chunks, would fly under my radar. This conclusion would be wrong. I have an uncanny ability to detect, locate, and extract every single chunk present in my meal. And this talent extends to more than just tomato sauce: Rice, yoghurt, refried beans, lasagna. You name it, if it has chunks in it there will be a small pile of said chunks left on my plate when I am done eating. I’m working through the problem and I’m happy to report I am having some measure of success; guacamole and orzo salad are two recent accomplishments of mine. I can now eat both without examining and de-chunking every bite I take. But I do still avoid chunks where possible. This is why the greatest kitchen appliance I have ever been given is an immersion blender. Stick this thing into any liquid-y substance whatsoever and BAM, it’s chunk-free. It has been of incalculable value to me in the making of sauces, as I can now consume whole tomatoes (and, thus, all of their nutrients), without wanting to gag.

    I have countless variations of my tomato sauce, depending on my mood and the ingredients available to me. This recipe is the original/ideal recipe (with one potential variation, if you feel like making it from scratch). This sauce is an excellent base for lots of recipes, including lasagna, pizza, and tomato soup, so don’t be afraid to make a big batch and either freeze or refrigerate it for use in other dishes.

Pomodoro Sauce

Ingredients:
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (San Marzano is good)
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup dry red wine
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and onions. Cook onions until they begin to become clear, then add the garlic. Allow garlic to simmer for 1 min, and then add wine. Allow wine to boil for 2 minutes, then add tomatoes. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, then immersion blend (only if you prefer a smooth sauce, like me. You may need to transfer sauce to a deeper bowl to do this). Add basil, oregano, salt, and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot. Allow extra sauce to cool before storing.

From-Scratch

Additional Ingredients:
8-12 tomatoes, diced (these replace the canned tomatoes)
4 additional Tbsp olive oil (8 total)

Directions:
In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and tomatoes. Allow tomatoes to soften and begin to seep juices out into olive oil, then add onions. Cook until onions begin to become clear, then add the garlic. Allow garlic to simmer for 1 min, and then add wine. Allow wine to boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Allow to cool, then immersion blend. (If you do not have an immersion blender, I would suggest blending tomatoes in a regular blender before adding to the pan. This will give your sauce a much more sauce-like consistency). Add oregano, basil, salt, and pepper, and allow it to simmer for 4 minutes.

Shrimp Feta

    The hurt-baby-deer look on my sister’s face when I told her that I was going to blog about shrimp feta was enough to make me feel guilty about doing so, but not enough to stop me. It really is her recipe, that is, she found it in a magazine, so I do have to give her credit for that. And I have to direct you to her blog, www.emilyrosekelly.com, where you will find her version of the recipe (She calls it “Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta” because apparently that sounds more appetizing than “Shrimp Feta”). This recipe is best in summer, because the tomatoes give so much more flavor when they’re in season. I cut them up super-small because I’m still working through some inexplicable issues I have with tomatoes—really the only way I can get myself to eat them is if I can’t tell they’re there. Feel free to cut them to a more normal size for your own meal.

Shrimp Feta

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes, diced

2/3 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste
Medium cooked shrimp
1 cup Feta
¾ cup cous cous

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Place tomatoes in an oven-proof pan, cover with olive oil, and mix in garlic and lemon juice. Roast in oven for 15 minutes. Remove, add shrimp and feta, then return to oven for an additional 10 minutes (note: if you get raw shrimp you’ll have to cook it longer. In this case, add the shrimp and cook ‘til they’re done, then add the feta). 5 minutes before the tomatoes and shrimp are done, bring ¾ cup water to a boil. Add cous cous, then remove from heat and cover. Wait 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Serve tomatoes over cous cous.

Pilot Post

    Upon hearing that the text message alert sound I had chosen for my new iPhone was the same sound she had chosen, a year earlier, for her iPhone, my sister demanded that I change my sound at once. After all, she had it first; and heaven forbid we not know which one of is getting a text. So imagine my trepidation when it was time to tell her that I wanted to start a cooking blog; something else she did first. Fortunately, she handled this news better than the text message situation, and I was given her blessing to embark on my own food blog journey. I do not claim to be in any way gifted in the kitchen. I don’t even claim to be marginally good at cooking. What I do claim, and you’ll have to forgive me for borrowing this mantra from the lovely movie Ratatouille, is that anyone can cook.

    I was a very picky eater when I was young. (Ok, some would definitely say I’m still a picky eater, but we’ll get to that). The most famous “Erin Meal” that has chased me through the years via the memories of family and friends, is the Erin Hot Dog. This meal consists of a hot dog bun with ketchup in the middle of it—no actual hot dog. To get this meal, I, or whoever was ordering for me, had to explicitly order “a hot dog, without the dog please,” a request that was usually met with blank stares. I obstinately refused to ever actually try a hot dog, so I remained convinced for several years that I did not like them, leaving me only with the ketchup-in-the-bun option. Interestingly enough, when I finally did try a hot dog, with the actual dog, I immediately liked it.

    Not every story like this ends with success. There are plenty of things I have tried multiple times and still loathe (*cough*bananas). The point is, now I try. In the past few years I have realized that one cannot sustain a healthy lifestyle subsisting only on goldfish crackers, pasta, and cereal. This presents a mildly concerning problem for one such as myself, as there are a very finite number of foods that I actually like. The solution, I found, is to try anything and everything, because you never know when you’re going to find something that you really like! Case in point: Mom made me try roasted broccoli, (urgh, right?) and I now find myself craving it almost every day. I never thought I would convert to the dark side with broccoli, but there you are. Obviously this isn’t going to happen to you every time you try a new food, but it’s happened to me enough times to give me hope that I might one day completely overcome my pickiness.

    Two years ago, I moved into an apartment and had to cook for myself for the first time in my life. I found that I truly enjoyed cooking, but my repertoire of dinner recipes was deplorably small. (I can only eat salmon and cous cous so many times in one week). Over the past two years I have observed my sister, my mom, my friends, and sometimes even cooking shows, to try to find new and exciting recipes, ones that I—miss hot-dog-without-the-dog—will actually like. Finding that balance between a healthy diet and a pleasurable diet has been, and continues to be, quite challenging. But I do feel as though I’m making progress. So I thought I’d start this blog in the hopes that I will be able to reach out to other picky eaters and give them some hope and, more importantly, some yummy (and healthy) recipe ideas.


Roasted Broccoli (don’t knock it ‘til you try it):

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli

4 Tbsp olive oil (or more to taste)

3 Tbsp salt (or more to taste)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°. Cut broccoli into bite-size pieces, trimming stems as short or long as you like, and place pieces onto a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the broccoli, covering all pieces equally. Sprinkle salt over broccoli pieces (go easy on the salt your first time, you don’t want to get too much. And you can always add more once you’ve cooked it). Roast in oven for 20 minutes or until broccoli pieces begin to turn brown. Remove from oven and serve hot.