Thai Lettuce Wraps

In the immortal words of Dr Sheldon Cooper, “Oh goody!  Dinner; some assembly required.”

The beginning of the CSA season seems to mean a lot of greens and lettuces.  A lot.  Seriously, I had no idea there were so many kinds of lettuce!  It’s crazy!  Anyway…In trying to find ways to use lettuce that aren’t a salad, I found lettuce wraps!

My first attempt at lettuce wraps for this year was an absolute success.  I was able to use the lettuce and one of the kohlrabi from the CSA box, which was nice.  Brian and I both LOVED this recipe (except that after one lettuce wrap, he grabbed some flour tortillas out of the fridge and made Thai Steak Burritos).  The sauce would be killer in a stir-fry, too.

Grilled sliced flank steak is possibly my favorite food, and this marinade was awesome.

I found this recipe at Iowa Girl Eats, and I pretty much followed it.  I sliced a kohlrabi into matchsticks and added that to the quick pickled onions and cucumbers, and it’s possible that I may have used more garlic than the recipe calls for.  Probable, even.

Quick pickled onions, cucumbers and kohlrabi. Yum!

I also sliced some avocado to add to the lettuce wraps.  It was a nice blend of textures and temperatures – the hot steak, cold crisp pickles and cold creamy avocado…I wish there would have been leftovers!

Avocados are so pretty.

Thai Lettuce Wraps (adapted slightly from Iowa Girl Eats)

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• 1 piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (I used a piece about the size of my thumb)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 Tablespoons creamy almond butter
• 1 flank steak
• 2 avocados, sliced
• Bibb lettuce cups

Quick-Pickled Veggies

• 1 small cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium white onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 kohlrabi, sliced into matchsticks
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar

For the Quick-Pickled Veggies: combine ingredients in a large bowl then stir to combine. I mixed everything in a large Tupperware container and let it sit in the fridge for about 6 hours before dinner.  Every now and then I shook the container to stir it all up.

Combine soy sauce, lime juice, olive oil, honey, sesame oil, red chili pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic in a blender or food processor then blend until smooth. Remove 1/4 cup of the liquid and pour into a large ziplock baggie with the flank steak to marinate.  Add almond butter to the rest of the liquid in the blender and blend again until smooth. Because I put this together in the morning, I poured the sauce into a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap.  I put the sauce in the fridge until dinnertime.

If you put the steak in the fridge to marinate, take it out and let it come to room temp before grilling.  Grill the steak to medium rare.  Let it rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice thinly.

Assemble lettuce cups – steak, pickled veggies, avocado and sauce.  (Or wrap it all in a tortilla.)  Eat and enjoy!

Kohlrabi and Cabbage Slaw

Is anyone else panicked when it’s time to pick up your new box of CSA produce and you realize you still have a lot of the previous week’s haul? Maybe it’s just me…

I had intended to make this recipe during the week, but jury duty and nightly rehearsals make it hard to do much of anything. Last week, we got cabbage for the first time and what the heck do you do with cabbage except make slaw? Ok, lots of things, but this seemed the easiest. It’s quite good! Now, if only I had some pulled pork from the smoker…

If you’d like a picture, please refer to the following post Kohlrabi slaw and Luke the Cuke meets a new friend

Kohlrabi and Cabbage Slaw

2 cups chopped cabbage
4 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and grated
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 carrots, sliced thin
2 tablespoons minced fresh onion
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1. Toss the cabbage, kohlrabi, celery, carrot, and onion together in a large bowl.
2. Whisk the sugar, salt, pepper, celery seed, mayonnaise, and vinegar together in a separate bowl until smooth; pour over the cabbage mixture and stir to coat evenly. Chill in refrigerator 1 hour before serving.

Kohlrabi slaw and Luke the Cuke meets a new friend

Elyse made a delicious Kohlrabi slaw for lunch. Luke approves.

Luke also met a new friend, hairy tomato butt. Luke approves.

 

Swiss Chard, you say.

I’m desperately trying to finish up last week’s CSA bucket before I have to go pick up another this afternoon.

So.  Swiss Chard.  What….I just….How do you….Oh hell.

Time to ask my BFFs Harold McGee and Mark Bittman what in the world you do with that stuff.

If you don’t have McGee’s ubiquitous culinary school text On Food and Cooking, you’re missin’ out.  That dude is rad and that book invaluable.

     Swiss Chard: Chard is the name given to varieties of the beet, Beta vulgaris, that have been selected for thick, meaty leaf stalks (supspecies cicla) rather than their roots.  The beet is a distant relative of spinach, and its leaves–including ordinary, thin-midribbed beet greens–also contain oxalates. Chard stalks and leaf veins can be colored brilliant yellow, orange, and crimson byt the same betain pigments that color the roots, which are water-soluble and stain cooking liquids and sauces. Some of the recently revived color varieties are heirlooms that go back to the 16th century. (p. 325)

He also has a long section on Betains and how they contribute to exciting shades of urine after consumption.  Added Bonus!

What I’ve done with swiss chard is the same thing I’ve done with other greens.  Saute them with tasty extras e.g., garlic, vinegar, wine, broths, spices.  It was gross.

So this time I blanched it and froze it so Orlando could throw it into an omelet or into some pasta.

Don't bother the chards while they're a-blanchin'

 

Maybe it will not be gross this time.  Or maybe the excitement of surprise urine discoloration will make it worth my while.

I also shredded my 3 kohlrabi bulbs from last week to make into delicious delicious kohlrabi hash browns.  Can’t go wrong there.

….that only leaves the lettuce.

I’ve had all the lettuce I can bear for a while.  Good thing there are others in my house whose digestion could use a boost.

 

Jackpot!

 

 

And lettuce not forget the dogs.  They will eat all the leftover lettuce.

Never having had a steak bone or sausage, the dogs think lettuce is the best treat ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus picture of the dogs fighting over the last free piece.  And we thought Marilyn had the crazy eyes yesterday.

Really, Truman? It's just lettuce. Seriously.

And so it begins..

This week was the first week we really had a taste of just HOW. MUCH. PRODUCE. we should expect.

This week’s haul included three kinds of peppers, yellow squash, a perfect eggplant, lettuce, kohlrabi, Swiss chard, spinach, green beans, tomatoes, snap peas, bok choy, and cucumber. Plus, there is always a sign for CSA members to “Help Yourself” to fresh herbs in giant pots outside the greenhouse. Don’t mind if I doooo.

Here’s a picture!

We’ve been warned by Dean’s Greenhouse that we will be getting more and more over the next 6-8 weeks. Kim, when is your canning class?