Asian Lettuce Wraps

Nicole and Matt wanted to be spontaneous this weekend so they jumped in their car Thursday and came to visit for the weekend. The sole purpose for their visit was for us to make yummy food, take a ridiculous amount of pictures and then blog about it, here, for all (five) of you to read.

Alright, that wasn't the only reason but that is what we did for much of the time they were here.

Our first dish was a delicious recipe we got off of Allrecipes.com called Asian Lettuce Wraps. We were trying to imitate the yummy Lettuce Wraps from PF Chang.s and I think they turned out pretty darn good. Here is the recipe:

• 16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions

1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
2. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
3. Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!

You will notice...

I don't actually know what you will notice because I started this post months ago and I am just now finishing it. I have no idea if we changed anything in the recipe (actually, looking back I can see that we used chicken instead of beef) but I do know that it tasted fabulous and I have made it a few times since these pictures were taken.

Enjoy!