Yep, I'm still looking for ways use up the abundance of Romaine from my garden. These lettuce wraps were a great way to use up about 6 leaves. Even though I didn't use up much lettuce, they were easy and delicious. Served with some Basmati or Jasmine rice they are a perfect light meal. Ingredients 6 Romaine, Boston, bibb or butter lettuce leaves 1/2 pound chicken breast, cooked and finely chopped 1/2 large onion, chopped 1 tablespoons minced garlic 1/2 tablespoon sodium soy sauce 1 TB cup hoisin sauce 1 teaspoons minced fresh ginger 1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or red wine vinegar 1 teaspoons Asian chili pepper sauce (see Note) 4 oz sliced water chestnuts, drained, finely chopped 2 green onions, thinly sliced 1 teaspoons Asian sesame oil Directions Rinse lettuce leaves, keeping them whole. Set aside to drain.
Cook onion, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar and chili sauce in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, water chestnuts and green onions. Cook until onions begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
Stir in sesame oil. Arrange lettuce leaves on the outer edge of a platter. Spoon meat mixture in center. Allow diners to spoon meat mixture into lettuce leaves and eat like a taco. Dipping Sauce Combine 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 TB Asian chili sauce, 1/3 cup sugar or Splenda, 1 TB grated fresh ginger.
Pup Daddy and I have dabbled in vegetable gardening over the past few years with varying results, mostly poor. This year we finally figured out that in tropical St. Petersburg we needed to start in January, seriously amend our soil, and use drip irrigation on a timer (I have a real problem remembering to water regularly). Voila! It worked. Now I'm searching for ways to use our bumper crop. Right now I need to use lots of Romaine and what better way than Caesar Salad. I'm not kidding you, this was THE BEST Caesar Salad I have ever had, including the those from super fancy restaurants like Bern's Steak house. Even better, it's super easy. You will always want this dressing in your fridge. I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. The base for the dressing is mayo rather than raw eggs, which makes sense. Mayo is just raw eggs and oil. And yes, there are anchovies in it. If you have an aversion to them, you'll just have to get over it! You absolutely can not have Caesar Salad without them! If you can't make yourself chop them up, you can buy anchovy paste in a tube and squirt it in.
You can use store bought croutons, but fresh ones are very easy to make. Besides, I always seem to have left over bread to use up. For these croutons I used my favorite Fresh Market bread, Rosemary and Sea Salt, but any bread will do. Brown up some garlic in olive oil. Remove the garlic and add the bread, turning it over when it gets brown. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper as soon as you take them out of the pan.
For the chicken I marinated bone-in, skin-on thighs in my own Caesar Marinade and cooked it on my gas grill. I love chicken thighs because they have such great flavor and stay moist. You could absolutely use any cut of chicken you like and use your favorite method to cook it.
