Thai Beef Lettuce Wraps

A flavourful filling of local pasture raised/finished beef with colourful peppers all wrapped up in crisp lettuce with rice noodles, carrots and cucumbers. If you can’t find large heads of lettuce… worry not, Just double up on the rice noodles and make it a delicious noodle bowl!   

We’ve been experiencing some pretty cool and rainy weather lately, and despite the official start to summer it doesn’t quite feel that way yet. This damp weather may have put a halt on the oh so delicious strawberries, however it does mean more favourable growing conditions for cool weather loving crops such as lettuce.

When I saw giant heads of lettuce (that were literally larger than my head) I couldn’t help put shove a few into my bag. The large leaves are the prefect vessel for getting this tasty meal from the plate right into your gullet.

Head to your local farmers market this weekend to pick up most of the ingredients. As usual this recipe should be used more as a rough guide. Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand, other great additions (that you can likely find at the farmers market) are hakurei turnips, fresh snow or sugar snap peas, kohlrabi or radishes. It’s also flexible in the way you serve it: lettuce wraps, noodle bowls or as a salad. This nutritious meal is quick to prepare and has the most amazing fresh and crunchy texture making it pretty much the best meal to have on this first official weekend of summer!!!

Thai Beef Lettuce Wraps
serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients
sauce:

• 1/4 cup Tamari (gluten-free if desired)
• 1 Tbsp. Sriracha
• 3 Tbsp. Rice vinegar (or lime juice)
• 1/2 tsp. Toasted sesame oil

beef:

• 1 tsp. Oil
• 1 lb. (454g) Ground beef (local, grass-fed and finished if possible)
• 1/2 tsp. Crushed red chili flakes
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2″ piece Ginger, minced
• 2 Sweet bell peppers, diced
• 1/2 bunch Green onions, thinly sliced
• 1-2 cups Basil, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch Cilantro, roughly chopped

toppings:

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 lb. carrots (3-4 medium), julienned or grated
• 1 Cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/2 bunch Green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb. (227g) Rice noodles
• 1 bunch Cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1-2 large heads Lettuce, separate leaves to use a wraps

make sauce: whisk ingredients together

prepare carrots and cucumber: toss chopped carrots and cucumbers with juice of 1 lime

cook beef: heat oil in frying pan over medium heat. Add beef, cook until browned about 10-15 minutes, breaking up with the back of a spoon. Stir in crushed red chili flakes, ginger and garlic, cook 1 minute. Add chopped peppers and 3 Tbsp. of sauce, cook until peppers begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in green onions, basil and cilantro.

cook noodles: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 4-5 minutes (or follow package directions). Stir occasionally to keep noodles from clumping together. Drain and rinse under cold water.

assemble: using a lettuce leaf as a wrapper, fill with rice noodles, top with beef mixture, carrots / cucumbers, cilantro and a spoonful of sauce.