sesame beef lettuce wraps & chicken pasta bake

After my pesto I was on a new recipe high. I had finally found one to add to my binder of deliciousness and I was left hoping the next would be just as good.

I found this recipe for Sesame Beef Lettuce Wraps on Under the High Chair about 9 or 10 months ago when I was scouring the internet for any sort of lettuce wrap recipe. In California we'd been spoiled with two wonderful restaurants within walking distance that both had amazing lettuce wraps. I already have a turkey lettuce wrap recipe that is to die for, but that's for a later post.

I was shopping at Walmart (ugh!) and of course couldn't find any flank steak so I picked out a thin cut of chuck rounds instead. I also couldn't find any sesame seeds - go figure - but I wish I'd had 'em.

I marinated my meat for about 4 hours before cooking. And it smelled delightful! The sauce that is posted with the recipe is yummy but a tad spicy (I have NO clue how I am going to use up the rest of my 17 oz bottle of Sriracha Chili Sauce). So if you like spicy then perfect, otherwise I'd cut back on the chili sauce or just use little dabbles when putting it on your lettuce wraps.

My meat was a little bland. I think the sesame seeds would have helped slightly. Putting the sauce on makes the marinade a bit unnecessary anyways.

J seemed to love them, this picture is courtesy of his photography skills:

The next night I made a Baked Chicken & Pasta. I was worried that there wasn't much flavor going into it and rightly so. 

Original Recipe:

1 cup penne or any small pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup parmesan, grated

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 400*, cook pasta til al-dente and drain. 

Heat olive oil in medium pan. Add chicken and cook about 3 minutes. Add onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and chicken is cooked through (about another 5 mins). 

Pour chicken into large bowl and mix with pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, salt & pepper. 

Place mixture into greased 8x8 baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs and parmesan over top and dot the top with small pats of butter. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Before going into the oven...

After! 

I will say it was definitely better the second night, much more flavor. This would be a great make ahead meal, even freeze it! Plus it's pretty balanced.

My recipe changes: I couldn't find any flat leaf parsley. I used more like 1/2 teaspoon of both salt & pepper. Also used fresh mozzarella and freshly grated parmesan - so much better than pre-shredded - and Italian style bread crumbs. Lastly, halfway through baking my butter wasn't dispersed enough and some of my bread crumbs were just burning so I spray the top down with olive oil. 

So I left out my menu for this week...so far it's been these two recipes, and tonight I'm making Pizza. Something I love to make from scratch (I cannot stand commercially baked pizzas) and this month gives me the opportunity to stray from my usual recipes and make some creative pizzas...we'll see what I come up with!