Chinese Chicken lettuce wraps

Recipe name: Chinese chicken lettuce wraps
Source: adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen
Servings: 2-3
Cookbook date: September 27

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

• 2-3 tbsp oil, sesame or peanut are nice
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 4 oz mushrooms
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts (optional)
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, I use dark
• iceberg lettuce leaves

1. Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat.
2. Break up and brown the ground chicken.
   
3. Mince all of the vegetables-mushrooms with garlic. You also might want to run your knife through your cooked chicken as well to get the pieces more uniformly sized, you want everything to be texturally at the same fine mince.
4. In a small bowl whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar. You could also add some red pepper flakes if you want a little spice..
5. Add your vegetables to the chicken and saute until onions and garlic soften.
6. Add the sauce and cook and toss for an additional couple minutes. Taste and adjust your salt and seasonings.
7. Serve with plenty of iceberg leaf “cups.”

Thanks to Chaos in the Kitchen for posting such a fun recipe. If anyone has ever been to P.F. Chang's, you know that lettuce wraps is a signature of theirs. We really enjoyed having our own version at home for a fraction of the price.

Our substitutions/additions: We used ground turkey, and the taste was awesome. I also shredded 4 baby carrots and sliced 1 green onion to add a little bit of color. We used water chestnuts which I finely diced, and we left out the mushrooms, because we believe that mushrooms are nasty.

I made this while Tim was out running errands, and I was glad to have the opportunity to sneak in water chestnuts, which he doesn't like, in general. When he tried the wraps he immediately asked, "What is the crunchy stuff in here?" I made him tell me first if he liked it, which he said he did (!) and then I revealed the secret ingredient. He wrinkled his nose up, and then confessed that water chestnuts were a good thing in this dish. Victory for Tiffany!

Szechuan Green Beans

Recipe name: Szechuan Green Beans
Source: Guy Fieri of The Food Network
Servings: 6-8
Cookbook date: August 1

2 cups canola oil, plus 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 ounce hot chili garlic sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon mirin or white wine
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 pound green beans, cleaned
2 tablespoons chopped peanuts
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

To medium Dutch oven, add 2 cups canola oil and heat to 350 degrees F.

In medium saute pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. Add ginger and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until it turns light brown; quickly add soy sauce, chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, hoisin, mirin, sesame oil and cilantro.

Fry the green beans in the canola oil for about 45 seconds, or until beans turn dark green. Remove, strain, and add to sauce. Toss and garnish with peanuts and parsley.

You can see a picture of these green beans on the Kung Pao Chicken page.

Ok, the amount of oil is over-the-top. Other than that, this recipe is a knockout. It went perfect with the Kung Pao chicken. Tim thinks it doesn't need as much vinegar as it calls for, but as we've already established, he hates vinegar, so any amount is too much. But once again, he is wrong. This is the first Guy Fieri recipe I have attempted, and I am pleased!

Kung Pao Chicken!

Recipe name: Kung Pao Chicken
Source: RecipeZaar
Servings: 3-4
Cookbook date: August 1

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons light sesame oil or vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons green onions, chopped with tops
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4-1 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes(to your own taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (can use fresh grated if preferred)
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 4 cups cooked rice, hot

Directions

1. Combine chicken and cornstarch in small bowl.

2. Toss to coat.

3. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet or wok on medium heat.

4. Add chicken.

5. Stir fry 5- 7 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

6. Remove from heat.

7. Add onions, garlic, red pepper and ginger to skillet.

8. Stir fry 15 seconds.

9. Remove from heat.

10. Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in small bowl.

11. Stir well.

12. Add to skillet.

13. Return chicken to skillet.

14. Stir until chicken is well coated.

15. Stir in nuts.

16. Heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

17. Serve over hot rice.

This is the best DIY Chinese food recipe I have ever tried. I LOVED this! It has a lot of ingredients, and the kitchen gets messy in the process of making this, but it is worth it.

Chicken Satay Salad Sammies

Recipe name: Chicken Satay Salad Sammies
source: Rachel Ray (Food Network)
servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 19
Date prepared:

1 1/2 pounds thin cut chicken breast meat (cutlets)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Grill seasoning (recommended: Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and pepper
3 rounded tablespoons chunky peanut butter
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, eyeball it
1/4 cup apple juice, eyeball it
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
1 lime, juiced
1/4 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise then cut into sticks
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups shredded lettuce, iceberg or hearts of romaine
4 crusty rolls, keisers or subs, split

Heat a grill pan or large nonstick skillet to medium high to high heat. Coat chicken in oil and grill seasoning and cook 3 minutes on each side in 2 batches. Pile up meat and shred it with a sharp knife.

Place peanut butter in a medium, microwave safe bowl and soften in the microwave on high for 20 seconds. Whisk soy, apple juice, hot sauce and lime juice into peanut butter. Toss chicken with satay sauce. Combine shredded veggies. Place 1/4 of veggies on sandwich bottoms and top with 1/4 satay chicken mixture. Set the bun tops in place and serve or wrap for travel.

Just a heads up, this is Tim, Tiffany's husband. We will be jointly posting on this blog with the "lead" cook taking the responsibility for posting about the dish. I made a few changes to the dish to make it work for us. Once again I used the George Foreman as it was faster and tastier than pan grilled chicken. In fact we had some left over grilled chicken left over so I didn't even have to grill the recipe.

I noticed that the recipe suggested to "eyeball" the measurements so I did. Anybody who knows anything about how I cook knows how out of character this is for me. I like to do everything by the book, at least for the first time I do the recipe. I may have been tired or lazy, probably both, so I just put in approximations of the amounts. The only thing I cut out was the cucumber, yuck.

My overall impressions of this dish is that it was very fast and easy and didn't create a lot of dishes to be cleaned. The sauce wasn't that flavorful, although that may have been my fault not the recipe's That being said I liked the fact I could still taste the grilled chicken, bun and veggies instead of just the sauce. Tiffany on the other hand didn't really care for the sauce or the dish in general. I'm not sure if we will cook it again since only one of us liked the dish but take my advice and try it out.

expense: ***
time: ****
taste: **

Fusion meatloaf?!

Recipe name: Hawaiian meatloaf with peanut glaze
source: no idea
servings: 4-6
Cookbook date: May 11
Date prepared: May 17 (dinner)

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp finely minced fresh ginger (1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

peanut glaze
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp minced garlic

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and gently mix until well blended. Put into a greased loaf pan and bake about 50 minutes, or until done.

While the meatloaf is baking, make the peanut glaze. To make the glaze combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and continue to cook until thickened. Pour about 1/4 cup of the peanut glaze over the top of the meatloaf 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Serve the remaining warm peanut glaze on the side.

What can I say? I'm a complete sucker for food that sounds strange. If a recipe combines meat and fruit, the odds are good that I will give it a try. This recipe did not disappoint, and it accomplished a dual feat: it was both strange and strangely good! Putting the meatloaf together was very simple and fast. The sauce was also very simple, though I would suggest having all the ingredients out before you start. Tim thought that the pineapple chunks should be bigger (he said he could hardly taste them), but I thought they were just right. The glaze, however, was where it was at, friends! It puts the traditional pseudo-ketchup topping to shame. Because the taste was so unusual for a meatloaf, I can't see myself making this frequently, but it will definitely keep its spot in our year long cookbook. I wish the picture was more appetizing, but let's be real, it's meatloaf.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a side to go with this?

expense:***
time:*
taste:***