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Friday, May 24, 2013

Guest Blog: Lettuce Wraps

Every Thusday, the Case Farm has a farmers' market in the atrium of the BRB from 11-2.  I am especially grateful for this for two reasons: 1) The CSA is on hiatus getting ready for summer (starts June 5 if you haven't already signed up, you should!) and 2) because I am moving at the end of June, I will not be participating this year (I am so very sad about this!  Fresh Fork, I will miss you beyond words!!!!!). 

Yesterday, they had these beautiful large leaf heads of lettuce (like Boston Bibb, but not).  As soon as I saw them, I said to the girls that I was going to come back for one because they would be perfect for lettuce wraps.  I then went off to get lunch.  When I came back to grab one, Corinne told me that I inspired her with that thought and started asking how I would make said lettuce wraps.  So, in the end, I sent her one of my pages that has my Thai sauces on it and then a webpage with several recipes for braising chicken.  She wrote me back this morning with what she did and said that the wraps were "probably one of the best meals I've ever made."  So, I asked her if I could post her recipe on my blog!  It's sounds wonderful and I cannot wait to give it a try myself!!!!  She is putting together a cookbook for the farm which will be released sometime this summer.  I will make sure that she lets me know the details so I can post them here so my readers can get a copy if they want!



Shredded Chicken and Vegetable Lettuce Wraps
Contributed by Corinne Burr, Farm Food Program Associate, CWRU Farm

Ingredients:

For the shredded chicken:
5 lbs pasture raised chicken (6 full legs, 3 breasts)
¾ c Apple Cider Vinegar
1 large onion
6-8 cloves garlic
Water
2-4 tbsp Tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
6-8 sage leaves, whole
A couple dashes of sea salt, pepper

For the vegetables:
2 zucchini
1 summer squash
2 carrots
1 head broccoli
2 yellow peppers
15 shiitake or 2-3 bunches oyster mushrooms
1 leek
6-8 cloves garlic
EVOO
sea salt
Tamari
Toasted Sesame Oil

For the fixings:
1-2 large heads big-leafed lettuce
2-3 avocados
1-2 limes

Directions:

In a heavy-duty large pot, put in all of the shredded chicken ingredients, adding enough water to just cover the chicken. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, dice all of the vegetables. You want everything to be diced into small chunks, with the garlic being more finely diced than the rest. The broccoli florets can be slightly larger as they will pull apart as they cook.

In a large frying pan, sprinkle sea salt and place over low-medium heat. Pour in enough EVOO to cover the pan and let heat for 30 seconds, but not long enough that it begins to smoke. Toss in the leeks, garlic, and mushrooms and let cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft. Then add in the squash and carrots. After those have cooked for several minutes, add in the rest of the vegetables and continue to cook, mixing occasionally. Pour on some tamari and a touch of sesame oil as needed. Continue to cook until everything becomes quite soft, and begins to resemble sort of a vegetable stuffing. This can probably continue cooking while you move onto the next step with the chicken.

The chicken should be ready by now. Remove the chicken from the pot onto a pan or plate, and let the stock continue to boil for another 15 minutes, uncovered so that it reduces. With two forks, removed the skin from the chicken and then pull the meat apart. As you shred the meat, place it in a bowl.

Once the stock has reduced and the chicken is all shredded, turn off the stove and add the chicken back into the pot, letting it mix back into the stock.

The final steps are the lettuce and the garnish. Gently tear off the full large leaves of the lettuce and rinse them, stacking them on a plate as you go. Cut the limes into eighths, and slice open the avocados.

When the vegetables are cooked, transfer to a bowl. Place the pot of chicken, the bowl of vegetables, the limes, the avocados, and the lettuce on the table and let everyone construct their own wraps, layering the vegetables, the chicken, and avocado slices on the lettuce, then drizzling with lime juice.

Easily serves 4-6

(shredded chicken recipe adapted from Rachael Ray’s)

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