08 Feb Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps

Sometimes in the winter, we all need something bright.  As much as we love soups and cozy comfort foods around here, I sometimes also need something with flavors that have a little more punch and zing.  For this, I love foods with Asian influence.

The saltiness of soy sauce and heat from chili sauce and tartness from lime help to wake me up.

And, for this, I also love that we have plain ground pork that can serve as a blank slate for whatever I want to create.

Lettuce wraps have been a “thing” in our home since we first were married.  I spent much of that first summer learning to cook and would often use the restaurants from our time in Indianapolis as inspiration. Bone Fish Bang Bang Shrimp, St. Elmo’s cocktail sauce, black raspberry chip ice cream from Graeter’s and more.  My lettuce wraps were first inspired by PF Changs.

But, like the pork, lettuce wraps are also a blank slate.  So moving from the peanut styled wraps to these with more of a Thai feel is easy, yet familiar.

I worked in some prepared lemon grass, easily found in the produce section versus fresh as that is much harder to find.  What I found was it gave the pork a juicy, light citrus flavor without the bitterness of an actual lemon.  Topped with carrots and our favorite kimchi, it was a dynamic meal.

Plain ground pork is available on Market Wagon and at the farm in one pound packages.  It is great served plain or for dressing up with other flavors and spices.