Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself for how these turned out. I know I'm a good cook, but I am not one of those badass food stylist/photographers who makes food look stunning. But I was quite pleased with how these looked on the plate, as well as with how delicious they tasted. I made Mr. FoodWhore just sit and admire them with me for a minute before we dug in.

I made these for dinner one night, served with some fried rice on the side, but they given their single-serving, finger-food capabilities, I think these would be great as an appetizer or for entertaining too.

Ingredients
juice of one orange
1/2 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp soy sauce
olive oil
1 bunch pea shoots
2-3 green onions, sliced
1 carrot
1 large chicken breast, cooked and pulled
boston lettuce
sesame seeds (optional)

Directions
1. Mix the orange juice, corn starch, soy sauce and 1 tbsp olive oil to make a marinade for the chicken. We used a chicken breast from a roasted chicken the night before. If you're using single chicken breasts, you may want to use two. Cook and pull the chicken and toss it in the marinade and set aside for now.

2. In a small skillet, heat some olive oil and sautee the green onions. As they become softer, add the pea shoots. Sautee for 2-3 more minutes. Don't overcook the pea shoots...they are better when still crispy.

Note: Pea shoots were a food I had never cooked with before. Recipes online were not very clear on what part of the shoots you ate. We received the pea shoots in our Fresh Picks box, with roots and all. Finally, I made a decision and cut off the peas and roots at the bottom and we just used the actual stems/shoots and leaves. Delicious!

3. While the onions/peas are cooking, rinse 6-8 Boston lettuce leaves and arrange on a plate.

4. Using a vegetable peeler, slice off 3-4 pieces of carrot for each piece of lettuce.

5. In the final minute of cooking the pea shoots, add in the chicken and marinade and mix well.

6. Scoop chicken and pea shoots onto the lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Note: we had extra chicken that I served alongside the wraps. We ate this with the rice and piled the wraps a little higher than pictured.

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore

Pork Noodle Salad

I'm posting this recipe with some hesitation. It's the last of the "Pork Four Ways" series. The hesitation is because I just didn't like it. And I usually don't post recipes that didn't turn out well. But in this case, I am posting it because a) the flavors were delicious and b) it's an Emeril recipe. I'm guessing that someone out there will really like it, so I'm going to share.

Like I said, the flavors were great and I will probably use the dressing again in the future. The textures of the salad were less than appealling. I'd never used rice noodles before and they were quite odd--hard to describe, but they were springy and almost plastic-like. And the cabbage was not chopped fine enough, which did not complement the noodles well at all...I blame myself for that.

Anyway, here it is...you be the judge.

Ingredients:
4 ounces thin vermicelli rice noodles, reconstituted according to package
1/2 cup finely shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup julienned carrots
1/2 cup julienned daikon--we left this out because we couldn't find it at the store, but it looks like a white carrot
2 tbsp brown rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp Sriracha or other Asian hot sauce (found on the ethnic food aisle)
1 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp fish sauce (also on ethnic food aisle)
1/4 tspsesame oil
1/4 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp minced garlic
9 to 10 1/4-inch slices cooked pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
4 teaspoons toasted chopped peanuts
Hoisin sauce, for serving (ethnic food aisle)
Sriracha sauce, for serving (ethnic food aisle)

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl combine the vermicelli rice noodles, cabbage, carrots, and daikon.

2. In a small bowl combine the rice wine vinegar, canola oil, Sriracha, orange juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic and stir to blend.



3. Pour the vinaigrette over the noodle mixture and toss to combine.

4. Transfer to a serving bowl or plate.

5. Slice the pork slices crosswise into thin strips. Scatter the pork over the top of the noodle salad.

6. Top with the cilantro and peanuts.

7. Drizzle with the Hoisin and Sriracha sauce to taste and serve immediately.



Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore

Pork Stir Fry

The first meal we made with the grilled pork was Stir Fry. This was super simple to make.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups Prepared Vegetables, such as snow peas, carrots, mushrooms, squash
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups leftover pork tenderloin, sliced (from Simple Grilled Pork Tenderloin)
1 orange, cut in half

Directions:
1. In a large wok over high heat, add olive oil.

2. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes or until they begin to soften.

3. Add the leftover pork tenderloin and squeeze one whole orange over the stir-fry.

4. Stir to combine and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore

Chicken Stir Fry

From Food Blog Pix

Ok, so admittedly, I kind of cheated on this one. But it's super easy.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1 1/2 cups of rice, uncooked
Teryaki Sauce
Bag of veggies

My local grocery store sells bags of pre-cut stir fry veggies. Normally, I think of this as cheating, but they are often on sale, and it's much easier than buying 4-5 single items and prepping them.

1. Cook the rice and set it aside

2. In a wok, or large skillet, heat some olive oil and sautee the chicken breasts.

3. Remove the chicken from the pan and sautee the veggies for a few minutes. It's best to only cook them for a few minutes and not over-cook them or you'll have mushy veggies.

4. Chop up the chicken into bite-size bits and toss them back into the veggies. Mix together and add a bit of teryaki sauce.

5. Scoop a bed of rice on to the plate. Top with chicken and veggies. Season with teryaki to taste.

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore

Thai Peanut Shrimp Pasta

You may have noticed that one of the labels in the left-hand column is "Simple Meals." A simple meal to me is something that can be thrown together in about a 1/2 hour. A simple meal is something healthy, quick and delicious that you'll want to prepare on a weekday night. Since I work full-time and Mr. Food Whore works and goes to school, we don't have lots of time or energy to prepare dinners. For that reason, I love simple meals. Here's another one of my favorites.

This is a delicious, flavorful meal that can be served as a hot pasta dish or cold over mixed greens as a salad. I've prepared it both ways and cannot decide which is my favorite.

Ingredients
1/2 box of whole wheat linguine
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 head of broccoli, chopped
1 bunch green onions
1 1/2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 jar sweet and spicy chili sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp tahini
1/3 cup crushed peanuts
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
fresh cilantro

1. Boil the pasta and set aside.

2. In a wok or large skillet heat a little olive oil and 1/4 cup of sweet and spicy chili sauce. (The sauce is found on the ethnic foods aisle with the other Asian sauces). Sautee the shrimp over medium-high heat.

3. Toss in the peppers and onions and continue to sautee for a few more minutes. Add more chili sauce if needed. In a food processor, finely chop the carrots into tiny pieces. Stir into the shrimp and veggies.

4. Toss in the cooked linguine and broccoli. Turn heat down a bit and sautee.

5. To make the sauce, I used a food processor, but a blender would also work well. Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, tahini, 1/4 cup chili sauce, and 1/4 cup cilantro. Blend well. (Tahini is also found on ethnic foods aisle. It is similar to peanut butter.) Pour suace over pasta and mix well.

6. Top with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds before serving.

To prepare this dish cold, remove from heat after briefly cooking broccoli. Add sauce and chill in the fridge. Mix in shredded napa cabbage and serve over mixed greens.

Serves 4

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore