6.15.2010

lettuce wraps

I often struggle with what to do with "all that lettuce" we get in our CSA box at the beginning of the season.  Even with a half share we have 1.5 to 2 huge heads of lettuce a week.  I love salad, don't get me wrong, but one can only eat so much salad, you know?  So I tried out some lettuce wraps.
We had some ground pork in the freezer (again from Fischer Farms).  You could easily substitute ground turkey or chicken, which I will most likely do next time.
I browned it in a combination of canola oil and toasted sesame oil.  I used about a teaspoon of each.  When the meat was mostly browned, I added about a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of Tamari (you can use regular soy sauce instead).  I then added about 1/2 cup of diced celery and 1/4 cup diced red pepper cooked the mixture for a few more minutes.  Right at the end I added 3 scallions, chopped, with both the white and green parts for the last 2 minutes or so.  We built our lettuce wraps with the meat mixture, shredded cabbage and carrots (aka cole slaw mix), sriracha hot sauce, Trader Joe's Sesame Ginger Soy dressing/ marinade, and of course, whole lettuce leaves.  For the less discerning palate, there were strips of ham and cheese, the cabbage and carrots (aka "crunchies") and ranch dressing.
Everyone deemed this meal a success and whenever we tire of salads, this will be our next choice!

2 comments:

  1. Lettuce wraps - what a great idea and again one of those things that I have never tried, but I have lots of lettuce from my MIL's (mother in law) garder we might have to give this one a try.

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  2. I love this blog - can't wait to read more, Kerry!

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