This post is part of a series called What’s for Dinner?, in which I invite my favorite bloggers, business owners and online personalities to share with you their own go-to recipes, the favorite meals, snacks, drinks they make over and over again. You’ll get to meet some of my online friends, and we’ll all get some new (fantastic) recipes to try!
Today’s guest blogger is a wealth of information about one of my favorite topics—cooking. I recently discovered the White Apron Chef blog, written by Brigitte Theriault, and can’t seem to get enough of it. Brigitte is a San Francisco-based personal chef, and offers menu planning services. What I love in particular is her a. Reading her blog is a whole lot like borrowing a personal chef’s brain for a while—she shares in
awesome detail all the chef secrets you need to know to cook better food—like how to cook beans, how to use your stove properly (how has no one told us this stuff before?), and what different kinds of rice should be used for. Plus, she shares the kind of helpful tips that allow you to learn to make a dish without a recipe—which are my absolute favorite.
I hope you enjoy this mouth-watering recipe from Brigitte! Then go follow her on Twitter, because she shares the BEST food links.
What’s for dinner, White Apron Chef?
Ground meat has so many virtues: it’s versatile, inexpensive, cooks quickly, and is perfect for weeknight dinners.
I’m completely obsessed with it. I use ground lamb to make lamb-feta mint burgers, ground beef and sweet potatoes to make tacos, and ground chicken to make stir-fries all the time. I also love ground meat to use in curries, which you wouldn’t expect, but is absolutely delicious. Oh, and meatballs! I love to make every kind of meatball – Mexican meatballs, Vietnamese meatballs, Spanish Meatballs with lots of smoked paprika.
I have been making this rendition of a minced Thai larb chicken for a while. It’s delicious on its own, but I recently introduced peanut sauce to this mix. It was the missing link – it adds another layer of flavor and moistness, and ties the lettuce wraps together.
Of course, you can’t go wrong with a healthy squirt of sriracha. And a handful of your favorite herbs scattered in the wrap. Thai basil is a revelation, but it’s not always available—so substituting regular basil is acceptable, too.
Enjoy. This is what’s for dinner tonight!
White Apron Chef’s Go-To Recipe: Thai Minced Chicken in Lettuce Cups with Peanut Sauce
- Ground chicken, 1 pound (thighs or breast, depending on your preferences)
- Jalapeno, 1, sliced
- Lime juice, about ¼ cup
- Fish sauce, about ¼ cup
- Tamari, 2 tbsp
- Shallot, 1, sliced thinly
- Coconut sugar, 1 tsp (or other sugar)
- Butter Lettuce, 1 bunch, separated into leaves
- Handful herbs, stemmed (I love thai basil, but mint, cilantro, or regular basil are all great)
Peanut Sauce:
- Peanut butter, ¼ cup (or sub almond or cashew butter)
- Soy Sauce, 2 tbsp
- Rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp
- Coconut milk, 2 tbsp (or water)
- Ginger, 1 tsp
- 1 clove garlic
- pinch chili flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
For the peanut sauce:
Place all your ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend 30 seconds. You can also place the ingredients in a large measuring cup and blend with an immersion blender. You could also whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl, if you wish.
For the chicken:
Marinade the chicken in the soy sauce for at least 15 minutes.
Bring a large saute pan over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, swirl, and add the chicken. Leave without touching for 1 minutes. Once the bottom has a nice brown crust, turn over and break up clumps as best you can.
Place the cooked chicken in a bowl, and add the jalapeno, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and shallot. Once the mixture is cool, fold in a handful of herbs – ½ cup is ideal.
To serve:
Place a spoonful of chicken on the lettuce, garnish with herbs and peanut sauce, and serve immediately!
Brigitte Thériault is a personal chef, master meal planner and personal chef business coach. She has 10 years of experience as a personal chef in New York and San Francisco. She believes eating good food is a basic, hedonistic pleasure that demands good, simple ingredients to nourish body and soul. She also believes in entrepreneurship as a way of life and thrives on helping people figure out how to make more money doing what they love. Visit Brigitte at White Apron Chef, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Insta
