A couple of tried and true recipes

These are a couple of recipes I haven’t used much since we moved. Cool new kitchen, the CSA, and I left a lot of my “old” favorites behind. However, it’s been more than a year, and some of the true favorites are making their way back into the rotation.

These recipes are written in that approximate, I don’t really measure kind of a way.

Lettuce Chicken Wraps

1 lb of chicken, ground (I usually buy thighs and grind them myself. I understand that isn’t an option for most, but if you have that option, I have a very low opinion of most pre-ground chicken)
2-3 carrots, grated
1 can water chestnuts
2-3 green onions
2-3 ribs of celery, finely diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 quarter sized pieces of ginger, grated

1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T alcohol, sherry or brandy

vegetable oil for frying

lettuce
hoisin sauce (some brands are very salty, possibly dynasty, but I wouldn’t swear to it, taste on you own and find what you like, stick to it so you don’t get a nasty salty kind).

Heat wok or frying pan over high heat. Add a sm. amount of vegetable oil and when hot, add garlic and ginger. When you can smell (don’t let it burn), add the chicken. Brown it. Then add the veggies. Stir fry. Add the sauce ingredients. Cook briefly. Serve on the lettuce leaf, with hoisin sauce smeared on the leaf.

I’m pretty flexible on the vegetables I use, depending on what the CSA has given us. This can be served warm of room temp., depending on your preference or family tendency to get to the table.

Mu Shu Pork

1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T alcohol, sherry or brandy
(notice the effective cut and paste )

1 lb pork (cheap cut is fine), cut into strips and marinated in above

2-3 cloves of garlic
2 quarter sized pieces of ginger, grated

bean sprouts (I tend to buy a package and use the whole thing for the recipe because they go bad so quickly, but you end up with a lot of bean sprouts in the recipe that way)
cabbage (any variety, Asian, not, whatever you have on hand)
carrots
bamboo shoots
black fungus (wood’s ear fungus)
green onions
celery

2-3 eggs

Hoisin sauce
Egg roll wrappers

I rarely use all the vegetables, and again, I substitute liberally. I’m about to make this with collard greens and kale, courtesy of the CSA. I hope that turns out.

Heat your oil and scramble your eggs in your wok or pan. Put to the side. Same deal, with the wok, the garlic and ginger, the meat. This time, put the meat to the side after it’s done. Stir fry whatever veggies you are using. Now, throw everything together. Please note that this makes a bunch. We (esp. Jamie) really like this, so I make a bunch. You may want to cut back.

There are recipes out there for mu shu wrappers. I tries making them precisely once and decided it was so not worth the effort, egg roll wrappers work (some people suggest tortillas, I like egg roll wrappers better).