Lettuce Cups

Courtesy of Yelp.com

So many different fad diets call for low-carb or no-carb. Removing the corn tortilla or the flour-based wonton leaves room for another receptacle. Hello, lettuce! Romaine, Bibb, butter, Boston. Pick a leaf. You can’t go wrong.

One of my favorite dishes at the now defunct Ruby Foos in Manhattan was this shredded chicken dish in lettuce cups. It was as delectable as it was light. I never felt weighed down by the end of the meal but still felt satisfied by a tasty dish.

While chicken is a great protein source for a recipe like this, you can easily substitute with beef or pork. You can use ground meat, shredded, or just sliced really thin. For the beef in particular, using flank, hanger, or flat iron steak is a good choice. You can even grill it and then slice it really thin like it’s been shaved to give the same effect as shredding it.

The veg is just as important as the meat selection. Aside from really fresh lettuce leaves, you need some really good crunch. Cucumber, radishes, shredded carrot, even sliced jalapeños would be good. Add some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. Consider sliced water chestnuts or even those crunchy Asian noodles to top off.

The sauce is the next stop. It should be soy-based to give it a bit of an umami kick. This is the kind of versatile emulsion that would be just as good on sesame noodles as it would be on the meat. Add peanut butter to the soy along with Sriracha or sambal oelek, a touch of honey, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil.

Also, consider the fact that using up cooked meat with extra veg wrapped in lettuce is a great way to get rid of leftovers. So just think about that the next time you’re staring at the inside of your refrigerator wondering what to make for dinner.

Here’s the recipe:

Sauce:

1 c. soy sauce

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1/4 c. honey

1 TB. Sriracha or sambal oelek (or more to taste)

1 TB rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. sesame oil

1/2 c. warm water

Lettuce Cups:

2 c. shredded cooked chicken

1 cucumber sliced thin

3 radishes sliced thin

1 c. shredded carrot

2 jalapeños sliced thin

1/2 c. fresh cilantro

Lime juice

Whisk the sauce ingredients together with the warm water. The water will melt the peanut butter to make it more malleable, so make the temperature on the higher end of warm to ensure good mixing. Place mixture in wok on medium heat. Add chicken until heated thoroughly. Place chicken and sauce in lettuce with sliced veg and eat.

Shazam! You’ve got a meal!

Kale, Caesar!

Courtesy of NPR.org

Until recently, kale was just another green leafy vegetable. But this cousin of cabbage has had a resurgence in the past few years. You could call it the “It Girl” of roughage. A kale dish in one form or another can be found on most menus. And an article in the January edition of Bon Appetit gives a tutorial on how best to “massage” your kale for peak tenderness.

Here’s what I found interesting about kale: it actually contains 4% protein, can often grow well into the winter with some varieties topping out at a height of six or seven feet, and there are at least four or five different types. Tuscan kale, also known as lacinato or dinosaur kale, has larger flat, bumpy leaves while the curly kale is just that—curly. Both are typically found in grocery stores while other versions, like Russian kale or rape kale, are less common.

While its green leaves can be tough, they can be tempered by sautéing. But I actually prefer kale raw in salads. The key is to keep the leaves chopped small making it easier to eat. One popular version is the Caesar salad substituting kale for Romaine.

But there is one recipe for kale salad I absolutely adore. It calls for lemon zest, slivered almonds, dried currants, Romano cheese, and a lemon honey dressing that is to die for. I could eat it all day every day.

Here’s the recipe.

1 bunch kale, trimmed from stems and chopped

1/4 c. slivered almonds

1/4 c. dried currants

1/4 c. grated Romano cheese

2 TB lemon zest, plus reserved juice from lemons

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. honey

Trim and chop kale. Set aside. In large bowl, mix lemon juice with olive oil and honey. Toss kale to coat with dressing. Add almonds, zest, currants, and cheese. Toss again. Serve immediately.