Coaching Cooking

Disclaimer: yes, I know this is not a movie, yet I find myself pairing certain foods with this successful cable show. There are so many gorgeous scenes with Carrie and the girls eating wildly fabulous meals. Yes, sometimes I wish I had such an exciting and interesting life. But, I can at least infuse my longing for such fictional greatness with great cuisine.

I’ve imagined two different dinner scenes involving Carrie’s two great loves. This week, I’ve featured Carrie and Aidan. Aidan, the casual, granola hunk of Carrie’s love life would appreciate a laid-back Chinese food dinner complete with tasty fried wontons, beer and an exotic dessert. And Carrie would enjoy feeding Aidan the wontons and the beef stir-fry. Or this could be a relaxing dinner to have with your sweetie. The wontons can be made ahead of time and even fried (just reheat them in the oven).

* indicates this menu item is a featured recipe below.

Carrie and Aiden’s Casual Date:

Beer
Fried Wontons*

Chinese Chicken Salad
Sesame-Ginger Beef and Asparagus Stir-Fry
White Rice

Canned lychees and almond jello (tune in for this recipe later this week!)

Recipe for Fried Wontons

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 cup of chopped water chestnuts (get the sliced kind in the can and finely chop)
4 green onions, thinly chopped white and green parts
3-5 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of dark sesame oil (optional)
Square won ton wrappers
1 egg, beaten in a medium-sized bowl

Using a food processor, place the first six ingredients in the cup part of the blender. Blend until all ingredients are combined well.

Make a work space on a table using a medium-to-large-size cutting board. Have a wet towel on hand (your fingers will become floury and, well, trust me…).

Line a cookie sheet or a large tray with wax paper so you have somewhere to put all of the wontons. The wontons can also be made ahead of time and frozen (freeze on cookie sheets and then transfer to freezer-safe containers).

Place a wonton wrapper on the cutting board so that one of its corners points to you. Using a teaspoon, put a teaspoon-full of the meat filling into the center of a wonton wrapper. Dip one of your fingers into the egg mixture and wet the two closest corners of the wonton wrapper. Fold the wonton wrapper up and seal the two remaining corners together while simultaneously pressing down on the filling to flatten (and to get rid of excess air).

Heat vegetable oil on medium-low heat in a large, nonstick pan. Have a tray, cookie sheet or large plate ready and lined with paper towels for draining the excess oil. Fry wontons a few at a time (about 4-5 wontons) until the wontons are golden about 3-5 minutes.

Serve the fried wontons with ketchup or spicy chili sauce. Fried wontons can be heated in the oven at 350 degrees for about five minutes.

Enjoy!