Chinese cuisine in Ontario
Today we hear from Rosie of Mount Elgin, Ontario.
“I chose to make ground chicken & pine nuts in lettuce wraps from the book Easy Chinese Stir Fries by Helen Chen.
The preparation of this dish went easily with Helen‘s advice on the mise en place. For the ground chicken, I boned two fresh chicken breasts and put them in my food processor with a regular blade at 1/4 speed. The result was a very authentic looking, varying texture!
I made the following changes due to taste preference and/or availability: one kind of soy instead of the dark and light soy called for in the recipe, baby creminis instead of dried wood mushrooms, and I toasted the pine nuts on stovetop in the wok before adding the oil.
The recipe was easy and turned out to be delicious after tweaking it a bit. As written, it is rather bland – which will make it ideal for families. The dish is easily seasoned to taste after the fact: I just added more chili sauce and rice vinegar to give it more zip.
I served this with Boston lettuce leaves and basmati rice. I just plated everything – my husband said the presentation reminded him of the plate lunches we had in Hawaii!
I was hoping to have a more festive atmosphere than I did for taking part in this project. I tried – but with summer vacation and horrible weather, my plans just kept getting moved back until I just had to make it. My chosen recipe looked so delicious in the photo in the cookbook that I couldn’t wait any longer to try it.
My husband was mowing the lawn at the time (takes precedence in a rainy summer, you know….) so I had to take photos myself. I did include one of my companion during the process – my dog Milo, who loves to eat vegetables. Considering my freestyle cooking techniques, he was in heaven during the chopping part of preparation.
I’m passing this on to our friends Rob & Janice, who are wonderful hosts and have friends all over the world – so I’m expecting some great things from them!”
Thank you so much for your participation, Rosie. It looks like a great job.
Now the cookbook is staying in Ontario and we’ll be looking for Janice’s update on that.
What is this blog about? Read the first post here.
You can check out and buy all itinerant cookbooks by clicking here.
Where are the Itinerant Cookbooks now?
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Here are the Itinerant Cookbooks:
Started in Tampa, FL with Margaret. Was in Tampa, FL with Noel, in Mt Elgin, Ontario with Rosemary. Now in York, Ontario, with Janice.
Started in Brandon, FL with Dave. Now in Brandon, FL with Dave.
Started in Nice, France with Marc-Antoine. Was in Bar-sur-loup with Faye. Now in Exeter, UK with Judie.
Started in St Petersburg, FL with Janet. Now in St Petersburg, FL with Janet.
Started in Dunedin, FL with Janis. Traveled to Chicago. Now in San Francisco, CA with Liz.
Started in Gainesville, FL with Esther. Traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Now in Tokyo, Japan with Martin.
Started in Plant City with Lynne. Traveled to Ann Arbor, MI with Horace.
Started in Largo, FL with Marty. Was in Madeira Beach, FL with Carol. Now with Sharon in Brandon, Mississipi.
Started in Brandon, FL with Debbie. Now in Tampa, FL with Jeff.
Started in Dunedin with Bob. Traveled to Chicago with Bob. Now in NY with Dan.
Thank you to our book sponsor, Wiley. Please check their website here.
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