Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have been a fan of PF Chang's since my first visit about 3 years ago. It was love at first sight. So it only makes sense that I keep trying to recreate their recipes at home. The cooking project for tonight was Chicken Lettuce Wraps. The procedure is rather simple because you just brown ground chicken with a few veggies on your stovetop. But the sauces are really what make this dish memorable. I say sauses because there are two. There's the sauce you add to the cooked chicken in the pan (that's sauce#1). Then there's the sauce you add to the finished dish (#2). Be still my heart, they are both so good.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
inspired by PF Chang's

Sauce #1
cooking sauce
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
2 T oyster sauce
2 T water
1 tsp hot sesame oil
1 tsp Splenda no calorie sweetener

Sauce #2
2 T Splenda no calorie sweetener
1/2 cup water
3 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/4 tsp hot sesame oil
2 T chopped scallions
2 T Sambal Olek- I like Huy Fong
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Chicken
1 T canola oil
1 pound ground chicken
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup button mushrooms chopped- if you have exotic mushrooms around, by all means use them
3/4 cup cooked edamame

Iceberg lettuce or Bibb lettuce for wrapping

Whenever I make Chinese food I get all my prep work done first. So make your sauces and set aside. Just whisk all ingredients together in two separate bowls.

Now prepare your vegetables.

On stovetop over medium heat add canola oil to sauce pan or wok. Add ground chicken and brown a few minutes. Break up the ground meat while browning. Add ginger, garlic, scallions and mushrooms and saute until chicken is cooked and not pink anymore.

There's nothing pretty about the dish at this point. Until you add Sauce #1.

Stir in the yumminess and add the edamame.

Now you're ready to plate the dish. I used Bibb lettuce, but iceberg works maybe even better because it's sturdier. Place a few tablespoons of chicken mixture into lettuce cups, sprinkle with cilantro leaves, spoon some of sauce #2 on top and enjoy. And then go for seconds.

If you happen to have any left over chicken, here's an idea. Boil up about 6 ounces of linguini, mix with leftover sauce #2 and chicken and reheat for another meal.

Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs

I have a very warm feeling for Cooking Light magazine. I've been a subscriber for 10 plus years and have even participated in one of their annual cook offs. And just when I think they can't teach me anything more, a recipe for baked Maple-Soy Chicken jumps off the page, the ingredients land in my shopping cart and the finished dish wows me and quickly becomes a new favorite. This recipe is from Julianna Grimes and Hannah Klinger and is featured in the Budget Cooking section of the August 2012 issue. It's not only wallet friendly, but after the marinade combines with the chicken for one hour, it's a quick fix with easy clean up. I followed their recipe precisely and added my own little twist at the end with the brown rice I served as a side.

Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs
from Cooking Light

1/2 cup maple syrup- I used Archer Farms 100% maple syrup
1/4 cup fresh orange juice- I had a huge navel orange and squeezed half of it
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T grated peeled ginger
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 gloves garlic minced or grated- I always grate if I'm cooking the garlic
8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 T scallions sliced

To make the marinade: Combine the first seven ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Place marinade in a large zip-lock plastic bag. Add chicken to bag and seal. Refrigerate and marinate chicken for 1 hour. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove chicken from bag, pouring marinade into a small saucepan. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Cook until marinade reduces to about 1/4 cup (about 5 minutes). You'll notice that it thickens a bit. I let mine sit off the heat a few minutes more to allow it to thicken even more. I wish I had a picture of it when it got really thick. It became gooey, rich.

Arrange chicken in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and baste with 2 T cooked marinade and sprinkle with salt. I baked mine in two 8 x8 inch pans as my regular baking dish was in use.

Bake chicken for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over and baste with 2 T more maple-soy mixture. Bake 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with chopped scallions for garnish. But you don't have to stop there. You can quickly make some rice! I took 1 cup of Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice, 1-3/4 cups of water, 2 T butter and whatever bits of the maple marinade I had left over (about 1 T) and added that to the mix.

Bring rice mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer 10-12 minutes until water is absorbed. Add a handfull of cooked edamame, fluff with fork and serve with your yummy Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs. I had half a navel orange left, so I sliced it and  added it to my dinner plate. Yum, Yum. This is a keeper. Thanks Cooking Light.