June 6th: sesame chicken lettuce wraps

I can't handle ground chicken. It's totally my mother's fault. Really, how is ground chicken any grosser than ground beef or ground pork? There should be no difference. But Mom has convinced me somehow it is grosser (though I do think ground anything is treading towards suspect). I tried to ignore that tonight while cooking up what looked like a tasty dish in June 2011's Chatelaine: Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps. It's a quick fry up of ground chicken, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, with Asian flavours (sesame, soy, broth) and carrots and green onions tossed in at the end, then wrapped up in lettuce to serve. I topped mine with Perth Pepper and Pestle Roasted Garlic Red Pepper Jelly. If you want a jar, let me know, I can hook you up. This stuff is awesome.


I was right; it was a tasty dish, thoroughly enjoyed by all three of us. I didn't think it would be quite enough on its own, so I made rice to accompany (good idea). I would also caution the promise of 4 servings might be optimistic; I would say it's more like 3. Happily, I discovered, when you eat a piece of ground chicken on its own, it does taste like chicken. However, next time I make this recipe (and there will be a next time), I'm going to take the time to finely dice up some chicken thighs myself. Then there should be no more mental issues. Thanks, Mom!