recipes & crafts

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

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.

copycat PF Changs Lettuce wraps
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.

Previous Post Next Post

You Might Also Like

3 Comments

  • Reply karen May 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    I will make both the wraps and the Piggies! My hubby bought me everything I needed for Baking and cooking for Xmas-I was so happy. Unfortunately,I fell off the wagon with my healh issues,but I’m down not defeated.I also saw a new cookbook for Eva Longoria-Eva’s Kitchen?. I so can relate stuffing things down the disposal. When we use to rent our old house,our Landlord got plenty of calls from husband saying “She struck again!”the disposal is broke. He would come over,and just shake his head. oops! xxoo Karen.

  • Reply smizzo May 20, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    You have NO idea how happy I am to see that you have posted this recipe. My mom used to make these for us while growing up, except without the sausage, and the noodles were substituted with rice. I loved them so much that I would eat them cold the next day (with a Diet Pepsi). I know, gross, but NOT REALLY!

    Candi, I’m gonna do your recipe this week, and will report back. My family is so gonna love me. ;)

    • Reply Candi May 22, 2011 at 1:19 pm

      Hey Smizzo! Can’t wait to hear how yours turn out. The recipe I used was for rice (not noodles). The second picture I posted was for the PF Changs Lettuce wraps :)

    Leave a Reply to karen Cancel Reply