Pigs in the Blanket and PF Changs Lettuce Wraps

Despite the fact that cooking this meal caused my kitchen drain to clog up, I still wanted to share both of these recipes with you because my husband said they were the best ever. Well wait, I guess the cooking didn’t cause the drain problem, it would have been the rice noodles that I shoved down the sink afterward. Oops.

When I was younger my mom made Pigs in the Blanket (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) or us all the time. I hated the cabbage part, but I remembered the filling being oh so yummy! I chose this recipe from Food.com, which you will find here. I chose to follow the directions for 12 cabbage rolls, but you are able to change the amount on the website to fit your needs. I also chose this recipe because it called for the use of burger and italian sausage, which I thought would give it more flavor.

Pigs in the Blanket

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb pork sausage
3/4 tablespoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white rice, cooked and cooled
1/2 large cabbage
2 (14 ounce) cans whole canned tomatoes, crushed with a fork
16 ounces chicken broth ( organic or homemade is best)
1/2 to taste olive oil, to coat roasting pan
1/2 to taste salt and pepper

Directions
– Wilt head of cabbage in large pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove cabbage from pot, cool slightly and separate leaves, taking care not to break the leaves.
– Mix ground beef, sausage, cooked rice, garlic salt, paprika and pepper. Form 3 inch balls. Place meatball into cabbage leaf and fold leaf around the ball. Place roll into a large square of cheesecloth, cover and twist ends of the cloth to shape and tighten the roll. Remove cabbage roll and repeat until all filling is used.
– In a large roasting pan which has been coated with olive oil, place layer of cabbage rolls (folded side down), cover with 1 can of tomatoes, and repeat. Pour chicken broth over the layers.
– Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cover roasting pan and bake for 2 hours or until until cabbage is tender.

I also wanted to try out a recipe that closely duplicated PF Changs Lettuce wraps. I love them so much! I read several websites before settling on this recipe from Wasabimon.com, found here. They were so yummy and tasted amazingly close to PF Changs. I could eat them every week they were so good!
Note: I didn’t make the pouring sauce because I didn’t have all the ingredients and I had read that the pouring sauce really isn’t necessary.

Wanna-be PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Ingredients for pouring sauce:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons gluten free tamari (or regular soy sauce if you’re not concerned about gluten)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot water
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced

Ingredients for stir-fry sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Ingredients for chicken stir-fry:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed to 1/2″
1 – 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, minced to the size of corn kernals
1/2 cup mushrooms, minced to the size of corn kernals
1/2 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
6 large leaves of iceberg lettuce or nappa cabbage

To make the pouring sauce:
– In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup warm water, then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and throw in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
– Just before serving, combine 1 teaspoons hot water with dijon mustard and garlic and mix in small bowl. – Add to the pouring sauce, 1/2 a teaspoon at time to taste.

To make the stir-fry sauce:
– Prep the stir fry sauce by mixing soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.

To make the chicken stir-fry:
– Combine oils and add to wok or large frying pan. Heat oil over high heat until it glistens, about one minute. Add chicken and saute until mostly cooked through, about 5 minutes.
– Turn the heat under the wok down to medium-high. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, wait one minute, and then add garlic, onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and the stir-fry sauce you prepared earlier. Stir-fry everything until the mushrooms have cooked through, about 4 minutes, and remove to a serving dish.
– Serve stir-fry with iceberg lettuce or nappa cabbage leaf wraps and top with pouring sauce.

* I choose to cook up some rice noodles to wrap inside the lettuce wraps along with the chicken stir fry. I Ken ate his without the rice noodles and loved them that way as well.