Lettuce Cups With Stir-Fried Turkey

Here is a tasty little meal that my husband Kelly made a few nights ago. He often  complains that I don't give him enough credit in my little blog and so I will admit that he prepared this whole thing himself. I sat on the sidelines and drank a beer, watched hockey, snapped a few photos and kept our super active baby from chewing on electrical wires and bumping his little head out of mischief.

This recipe is meant to be served as an appetizer but we found it made a super tasty, light dinner for two. The actual recipe called for ground chicken but Kelly used ground dark turkey meat which we both thought worked really well with the asian flavours. The taste of fresh shiitake mushrooms combined with ginger, roasted cashews and sweet chili sauce was absolutely to die for. Amazing job Kelly.

*Tip Use any extra marinated turkey mixture for a stir-fry the next night.

Lettuce Cups with Stir-Fried Turkey (8 appetizer servings or 2 meal servings)
adapted from bon appetit June 2011

16 large butter lettuce leaves
1/2 cup asian sweet chili sauce
1 lb ground dark turkey meat
2 scallions, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. peanut oil
3 medium shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. peeled minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup unsalted, chopped roasted cashews

Arrange lettuce leaves on a large platter. Pour chili sauce into a small bowl. Mix turkey, scallions, soy sauce and cornstarch in a medium bowl; marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet. Add mushrooms and stir-fry 15 seconds. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add turkey mixture and cook until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Spoon turkey mixture into lettuce leaves, dividing equally. Garnish with cashews. Roll leaves around filling and dip into chili sauce.

Juli Peeler: a great little gadget and a woman I'd like to know

I spent the better part of this past week in my home town of Sidney, B.C. catching up with my family and escaping the hustle and bustle of the lower mainland for a few days. One day, while poking around in one of the many cute little shops that Sidney has to offer, I came upon a Juli Peeler. The package of this little gadget boldly claimed to be able to cut vegetables into colorful little strips in seconds as well as julienne potatoes, lemon zest and pretty much anything else I wanted to. Since it is small and sleek looking and wouldn't require much in the way of annoying dish washing, which I have a constant pile of, I decided to give it a chance. 

Here is a recipe from my long time crush (yes, my husband is aware and seemingly okay with it) Jamie Oliver.  Go ahead and judge me if you want but I still say there's not much to dislike about the guy. Anyway, the moment I saw these labour intensive looking potatoes I knew it would be the perfect challenge for my little gadget.

All in all, these little potato straws were fairly easy to make. They ended up tasting bloody fantastic and we gobbled the whole plate up practically licking up the crumbs leftover on the plate vowing to make them again soon. 

We paired ours with a cold beer and a bunless beef burger topped with creamy blue cheese. A decadent meal for a quiet night in.

Jamie's tips for deep-frying

1. never leave the pan alone as it could catch fire

2. never leave kids alone in the room with a hot pan.

Rosemary Straw Potatoes with Lemon Salt

from Jamie Oliver

Since I have never done this type of frying before I followed the recipe fairly exactly, and so I will print the recipe verbatim.

for the lemon salt

• zest of 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons sea salt

for the rosemary straw potatoes

• sunflower oil
• 800g potatoes peeled into fine matchsticks
• a few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked

To make your lemon salt, bash and mix together the lemon zest with the salt in a pestle and mortar until salt is fine. 

Heat 6-8cm of sunflower oil in a sturdy pan and bring to deep-frying temperature. You can do this by using a thermometer, or by placing a small chunk of potato into the cold oil before you begin to heat it. When the potato is floating and a dark golden brown, the temperature will have reached 180 degrees C/350 degrees F and you're ready to begin frying (remember to remove the piece of potato before you begin).

Pat the julienne strips dry with some kitchen paper to remove any excess starch. Make sure you've got a slotted spoon and some paper napkins nearby. Carefully place some of your potatoes into the pan of oil (don't overcrowd) for a couple of minutes until golden brown and crisp. Cook the potatoes like this, in batches until they are all used up. Add the rosemary for the last 30 seconds. Remove the chips and rosemary to the napkins to soak up any excess oil, and then dust with lemon salt.

Here is my new Juli Peeler

Baked Kale Chips: better then you think!

Okay, okay, I know what you are thinking...another post about Kale? I can explain.....since I already had the purple kale from my blog picture I recently took, I had to find a way to use it before it starts wilting. Kale chips are super quick to make and tasty as can be. You'll be shocked at how the baked kale chips lose their harsh kale flavour and instead impart a lovely, light crispy potato chip quality. These kale chips will impress even the junk foodies in your life.

Kale Chips

from Smitten Kitchen

1 large bunch Kale

1 tablespoon olive oil

sea salt, to taste

Tear off all the kale leaves from the tough inner stem into a bowl and toss in enough olive oil to fully coat all the leaves. Toss in some salt and then spread onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheight for 15-20 minutes or until crispy.

Variation: add graded parmesan cheese sprinkled on top