There are some sayings in the food world that occasionally make me cringe, “fusion” often being one of them. I love creativity and playing with ingredients in the kitchen. It seems like all to often though, that word has become synonymous with people finding accessible food from multiple cuisines and turning it into a incongruous hodgepodge of flavors. Something along the lines of a sweet soy-chicken, duck-fat roasted quesadilla comes to mind.
Fresh Pea Shoots and great texture and flavor
As the farmers markets around town are starting to roll out with the Peoples Market every Wednesday, Town Square Markets starting on July 11, and the Jackson Hole Farmers Market in Movieworks Plaza starting mid July, there will soon be no excuse for recpies that don’t show off the wonderful fresh produce we have access to. As late June in Wyoming is still considered early season by many, we had to get a little creative this week in highlighting a Farmers Market Favorite recipe, and yes it probably falls under the fusion umbrella.
Bok choy lamb wraps. I chose to forget the previous diatribe and plunge right into a little Asian-Mediterranean mix of flavors. The finished product is inspired by sourcing fresh and as it just so happens there are plenty of local meat and greens around the market at the moment.
Ingredients
- 1 head of bok choy
- 1/2 pound lamb
- 1/2 cup lentils
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon oregano, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Siracha
- 1 cup chopped pea shoots
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- FOR THE WRAP
- Remove leaves from bok choi and wash throughly
- Chop off fibrous stems, set aside.
- Heat up a large pot of salted water to a roiling boil
- Blanch bok choy leaves until easily workable but not to soft (about 30 seconds)
- Remove from water and run under cold water, set aside on paper towels
- FOR THE FILLING
- Put lentils into pot of salted boiling water and cook until soft, set aside
- Chop bok choy stems that were set aside
- Heat up olive oil in a frying pan
- Add garlic and saute until translucent
- Add in lamb, rosemary, oregano, chopped bok choi, and pea shoots and cook until ground lamb is cooked through
- Remove from heat and drain any excess fat or oil
- Add green onions, chives, soy sauce, siracha, cooked lentils, salt and pepper to taste
- mix throughly
- TO FINISH
- Lay out bok choy leaves on a cutting board
- Place a large spoonful of filling in each leaf
- Roll up each leaf starting from the part of the leaf closest top you toward the middle while folding in the sides, like a burrito
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce
There are a few keys to getting this one just right. Make sure to blanch the bok choi in boiling water only to the point in which the leaves can be rolled and immediately cool them to stop the cooking process, this will also help them retain their intense green color. I chose Lamb, lentils, pea shoots, fresh herbs, and bok choi stems for my filling but feel free to get creative. Try out some freshly ground pork or chicken (both of which you can find at the markets) or other greens and veggies as they come into season. I was able to source almost everything from Cosmic Apple Farms, Full Circle Farm, Generation Farms, and Larks Meadow although their are plenty of others that offer equally as good produce. Just remember it is nice to have a variety of textures and flavors in your filling.
All rolled up and ready to go!
Looking for the right sauce to drizzle on top? If your going the fusion route, look to pair your sauce with the dominate flavors in the filling (doing a garlic, rosemary, and lamb filling think Tzatiki where as a pork, ginger, and shallot stuffed wrap could benefit from a sweet chili or satay sauce).
Happy market foraging!
