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05/27/2021 12:01 AMYears ago my husband and I would charter a sailboat in the Caribbean for a week in the winter. The mornings were cool. It was warm and cloudless in the afternoons, and then, out of nowhere a cloudburst would appear for just 15 minutes. After that it was clear and sunny for a few hours and then it cooled down bedtime.
The weather this past weekend was similar. But it seemed even better, since I was able to spend time with 30 friends I hadn’t seen in almost two years, as we began our boules summer that didn’t happen in 2020.
Boules, by the way, is sort of like bocce, but the balls are smaller than bocce balls and are stainless steel, and the game must be played on a gravel or dirt court, since the tiny wooden ball we tried to hit would be invisible on grass lawn.
It was the first 2021 party, held in Old Lyme, and the food was outrageously good, beginning with escargot in a ramekin lidded by a thin cracker that shattered, almost like the top of the burned sugar on top of crème brulee. Dinner was lamb chops, two kinds of meatballs, couscous, and ratatouille, then a cheese course and salad and a flan, or crème caramel, which made us moan with delight.
Could most of us ever make a feast like this for so many people? I sure could not.
But one of our hors d’oeuvre was made by our host, Tim Boyd. He said got the recipe online from PF Chang’s restaurant. We could make that.
And the dessert, too, a flan made by Stacie Boyd. She says she will give me the recipe soon. I will share it with you when I get it.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
PF Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Yield: serves 4
(This makes at least 3 for each; I might triple the recipe)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced small
¼ cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon Sriracha
(optional, but it should be in everyone’s pantry)
1 8-ounce can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 head of butter lettuce for serving (romaine would be fine)
Directions
Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
Stir in garlic, onions, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger, and Sriracha and cook until onions have become translucent, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, 1 to 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
To serve, spoon large tablespoon of chicken mixture into center of lettuce leaf, taco-style.