Asian Salmon Lettuce Wraps

These make a great appetizer/hors d'oeuvres or even a lite main dish.

Asian Salmon Lettuce Wraps:
Ingredients
Butter Lettuce (1 or 2 heads)- you can expect to get 4-6 good sized leaves off each head to make each wrap.
1 Good Sized Carrot
1 Head Cabbage
Sesame Oil
Salad Oil/ Vegetable Oil
Sesame Seeds
Soy Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce
Cucumber
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Olive Oil
Rice Wine Vinegar
Sugar
1 Med/Large Shallot
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet about 4-6" wide

Butter Lettuce Head
Finely sliced cabbage (cut the main vein out of the leafs and thinly slice it separately, stack the leaves, roll them tightly then thinly slice them)
Shredded carrot (for shredding - a julienne peeler makes short work of this task)
About a 4 to 1 ratio of Cabbage to carrot is good (1 cup cabbage 1/4 cup carrot)
If you like cuccumber - cut a chunk in 1/2 lengthwise, scoop out the seeds then cut the halves again into quarters and thinly slice them.

Asian Dressing
1/8 Cup Sesame Oil
1/8 Cup Salad Oil
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Thinly slice the salmon meat  Slicing it crosswise (knife running from tail to head instead of back to belly) holds it together a bit better. Slicing with the knife running back to belly is most common. Slice straight towards the skin then once the knife makes contact with the skin twist your wrist and slice the meat off the skin instead of all the way through the skin.

Make your salad by mixing Cabbage, Carrot, Cucumber, & dressing together in a bowl.

Preheat a shallow frying pan with 1/2 olive oil & 1/2 butter mixture - just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Dredge the pieces of salmon in seasoned flower (salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika) and brown both sides. Place salmon pieces on a paper towel covered plate to drain. Add 1/2 Butter 1/2 Olive Oil mixture as needed.
When all of the salmon has been cooked and removed, Put 1/4 cup minced shallot in the pan, when the shallot turns translucent, add 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 1/4 cup Sweet Chili Sauce, when it begins to boil, turn the heat off and place in a bowl or gravy boat.

Assemble your wraps by placing a leaf of Butter Lettuce down on a plate, scoop some salad on top, then slices of salmon, topping it off with the sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, fold and eat!


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Hot Basil Chicken Stir Fry

There was this little Chinese Restaurant in downtown Sacramento on K Street, that I used to stop in and grab this dish for lunch and go eat in the park. They went out of business. (I guess I didn't stop in often enough!)
I began to miss this dish, so I set out to recreate it! It took me SEVERAL tries and I'm not sure it's an exact duplicate of the original but I'm pleased with it - I hope you enjoy it!

Hot Basil Chicken:
This is a spicy dish and can vary in heat depending on the peppers - they can vary in heat from one to another.

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (buy them or remove the skin and bone yourself)
6 to 10 Leaves Fresh Basil
5 good sized Mushrooms
Vegetable Oil
Fish Sauce
Onion or Shallot
3 Jalapeno Peppers
White Rice

Start the Rice (Bring 1 1/2 Cups water to a boil, add 1 cup rice, cover the pan and turn the heat to low.)
Quarter the Mushrooms
Thinly slice 2 of the peppers into rounds (discard the tops), remove the seeds and veins from the 3rd pepper and coarsely chop.
Cut the chicken into 1" chunks


Heat oil in a large frying pan, when the oil is hot, add the chicken. When all of the chicken has turned opaque/gray-brown, add the peppers, mushrooms, onion (to taste). Now would be a good time to give your rice a stir with a clean spoon. Continue to stir on Med-High heat until the peppers all wilt. At this point take the basil leaves and tightly roll them lengthwise and slice the roll every 1/4 inch - fluff the basil ribbons then add them to the pan. If you cut the basil at the beginning of the dish, it will oxidize and turn black (bunch like a sliced apple left out in the open would turn brown) it's best to wait before slicing the Basil until the dish is ready. Once the basil is stirred in, add the fish sauce (most fish sauce comes in squirt bottle - so squirt it all over your dish generously) if the fish sauce doesn't have a squirt bottle - add 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup - fish sauce is salty therefore you're adding a salt component to the chicken and the rice it's being served with.

Serve next to, or over the rice. Serves 2 or 3 people as a main dish.